ands behind the chair of the lady of the house--in other
words, at the head of the table. In occasional houses, the butler stands
at the opposite end as he is supposed to be better able to see any
directions given him. At Golden Hall the butler stands behind Mr. Gilding
but at Great Estates Hastings invariably stands behind Mrs. Worldly's
chair so that at the slightest turn of her head, he need only take a step
to be within reach of her voice. (The husband by the way is "head of the
house," but the wife is "head of the table.")

At tea time, he oversees the footmen who place the tea-table, put on the
tea cloth and carry in the tea tray, after which Hastings himself places
the individual tables. When there is "no dinner at home" he waits in the
hall and assists Mr. Worldly into his coat, and hands him his hat and
stick, which have previously been handed to the butler by one of the
footmen.

_The Butler in a Smaller House_

In a smaller house, the butler also takes charge of the wines and silver,
does very much the same as the butler in the bigger house, except that he
has less overseeing of others and more work to do himself. Where he is
alone, he does all the work--naturally. Where he has either one footman or
a parlor-maid, he passes the main courses at the table and his assistant
passes the secondary dishes.

He is also valet not only for the gentleman of the house but for any
gentleman guests as well.

_What the Butler Wears_

The butler never wears the livery of a footman and on no account knee
breeches or powder. In the early morning he wears an ordinary sack
suit--black or very dark blue--with a dark, inconspicuous tie. For
luncheon or earlier, if he is on duty at the door, he wears black
trousers, with gray stripes, a double-breasted, high-cut, black waistcoat,
and black swallowtail coat without satin on the revers, a white
stiff-bosomed shirt with standing collar, and a black four-in-hand tie.

In fashionable houses, the butler does not put on his dress suit until
six o'clock. The butler's evening dress differs from that of a gentleman
in a few details only: he has no braid on his trousers, and the satin on
his lapels (if any) is narrower, but the most distinctive difference is
that a butler wears a black waistcoat and a white lawn tie, and a
gentleman always wears a white waistcoat with a white tie, or a white
waistcoat and a black tie with a dinner coat, but never the reverse.

Unless he is an old