o might chafe under them. Now, I say
we wait until we find out if we cannot let well enough alone, and
not raise discord in our home."

"There never was an Eden without its serpent," sighed Thaddeus. "I
don't exactly like the idea of fitting our rules to their
idiosyncrasies."

"It isn't that, dear. I don't want that, either; but neither do we
wish to unnecessarily hamper them in their work by demanding that
they shall do it our way."

"Oh, well, you are the President of the Republic," said Thaddeus.
"You run matters to suit yourself, and I believe we'll have the most
prosperous institution in the world before we know it. If it were a
business matter, I'd have those rules or die; but I suppose you
can't run a house as you would a business concern. I guess you are
right. Keep the rules a week. Why not submit 'em to your mother
first?"

"I thought of that," said Bessie. "But then it occurred to me that
as Ellen had served always under your mother, it would be better if
we consulted her."

"I don't," said Thaddeus. "She'd be sure to tell you not to have
any rules, or, if she didn't, she would advise you to consult with
the cook in the matter, which would result in Ellen's becoming
President, and you and I taxpayers. She used to run our old house,
and now see the consequences!"

"What are the consequences?" asked Bessie.

"Mother and father have been driven into a hotel, and the children
have all been married."

"That's awful," laughed Bessie.

And so the rules were filed away for future reference. That they
would have remained on file for an indefinite period if Thaddeus had
not asked a friend to spend a few weeks with him, I do not doubt.
Bessie grew daily more mistrustful of their value, and Thaddeus
himself preferred the comfort of a quiet though somewhat irregular
mode of living to the turmoil likely to follow the imposition of
obnoxious regulations upon the aristocrats below-stairs. But the
coming of Thaddeus's friend made a difference.

The friend was an elderly man, with a business and a system. He was
a man, for instance, who all his life had breakfasted at seven,
lunched at one, and dined at six-thirty, of which Thaddeus was aware
when he invited him to make his suburban home his headquarters while
his own house was being renovated and his family abroad. Thaddeus
was also aware that the breakfast and dinner hours under Bessie's
regime were nominally those of his friend, and so he was a