"Has that anything to do with the inconveniences you speak of?"
"I shouldn't like to lose the girls, especially cook. They sleep in the attic, you know, and the roof is shockingly out of repair."
"It is the chronic condition of roofs. Go where you will, you hear the same story. Have the girls complained?"
"The kitchen is not what it should be; the range causes us the greatest anxiety. The next dinner party we give we must have the dinner cooked out. Think what a trouble it will be, and how awkward it will look. Everything brought to the table lukewarm, if not quite cold."
"And you so particular as you are. I am not blaming you for these things, my dear."
"You are very considerate. Is your catalogue of ills finished?"
"By no means. Look at the wine cellar--it positively reeks. As for the store cupboard, not a thing can I keep in it for the damp. Then there's the bath. Every time I turn the hot water tap I am frightened out of my life. It splutters, and chokes, and gurgles--we shall have an explosion one day. Then there's----"
"No more!" I cried, in a tragic tone. "Give me two minutes to compose myself. My nerves are shattered."
I finished my eggs and toast, I emptied my breakfast cup, I shifted my chair.
"Do you not see the impossibility of our remaining where we are?" was her reply.
"Frankly, I do not, but we will not argue; I bend my head to the storm."
"Edward, Edward!" she expostulated. "Must not a woman have a mind? Must it always be the man?"
"I meant nothing ill-natured, Maria. Have you any particular house in view?"
"Several, and I have made out a list of them. I have been to the house agents and have got the keys. I did not wish you to have the bother of it, so I took it all on myself. And here are the orders to view the houses where there are care-takers. Of course we don't want the keys of those houses; all we have to do is to ring."
"How many empty houses are there on your list?"
I repressed a shudder. "And you have the keys of----"
"Eleven. I can get plenty more. We must be careful they don't get mixed up. Perhaps you had better keep them."
"Not for worlds. Do you propose to go over the whole twenty-three to-day?"
"Oh, no, my dear, but we will continue till we are tired. With what I have and what I am promised I dare say it will be a long job before we are suited. Days and days."