The Remains of the Day: Day Three: Evening

I must reiterate, these meetings were predominantly professional in character; that is to say, for instance, we might talk over the plans for a forthcoming event, or else discuss how a new recruit was settling in.

In any case, to return to my thread, you will appreciate I was not unperturbed at the prospect of telling Miss Kenton I was about to dismiss two of her maids.

'Mr Stevens, I am outraged that you can sit there and utter what you have just done as though you were discussing orders for the larder. You are saying Ruth and Sarah are to be dismissed on the grounds that they are Jewish?'

Surely I don't have to remind you that our professional duty is not to our own foibles and sentiments, but to the wishes of our employer.

I did, I suppose, hope that she might finally relent a little and make some conciliatory response or other, allowing us once and for all to put the whole episode behind us.

I went about gathering up the various items of crockery from amidst the plants and the cane furniture, and as I did so, I believe we exchanged a few pleasantries, perhaps discussed one or two professional matters.

But it is at least a great comfort to hear his lordship declare so unequivocally that it was all a terrible misunderstanding.

'It is very interesting, Mr Stevens. Very interesting you should have been so pessimistic about her. Because Lisa is a pretty girl, no doubt about it. And I've noticed you have a curious aversion to pretty girls being on the staff.'

If I thought there was one modicum of sense in what you are saying I might bother to engage with you in this discussion.

They are kind people, and though I have on more than one occasion tonight offered remuneration for their hospitality, they will not hear of it.

What with this and the trouble yesterday concerning the lack of water in the radiator, it would not be unreasonable for an observer to believe such general disorganization endemic to my nature.

It may be pointed out, of course, that as far as long-distance motoring is concerned, I am something of a novice, and such simple oversights are only to be expected.

I was a little disconcerted then by what eventually greeted my eyes.

There was little to be gained in growing despondent, however.

It was not, in the end, too arduous a descent.

I had explained my position as succinctly as possible, adding that I would be most gratified to be guided towards a good inn.

But when I spoke earlier of this evening's events being 'trying’, I was not referring simply to the frustrations of running out of petrol and of having to make such an uncouth journey down into the village.

If operations are to be conducted in a smoothly coordinated way, it is surely obvious that the butler's pantry must be the one place in the house where privacy and solitude are guaranteed.

'Good gracious, Mr Stevens, it isn't anything so scandalous at all. Simply a sentimental love story.'

...I often tended to choose the sort of volume Miss Kenton had found me reading that evening simply because such works tend to be written in good English, with plenty of elegant dialogue of much practical value to me. A weightier book - a scholarly study, say - while it might have been more generally improving would have tended to be couched in terms likely to be of more limited use in the course of one's normal intercourse with ladies and gentlemen.

I rarely had the time or the desire to read any of these romances cover to cover, but so far as I could tell, their plots were invariably absurd - indeed, sentimental - and I would not have wasted one moment on them were it not for these aforementioned benefits.

It really was immaterial whether it was Miss Kenton or a complete stranger who had walked in at that moment.

Of course, she never took more time than her entitlement, and thus I felt it improper to inquire further concerning these outings of hers.

Then there were other more nebulous signs to support Mr Graham's view.

For instance, although she continued to discharge her professional duties with all her usual diligence, her general mood tended to undergo swings of a sort I had hitherto never witnessed.

'In my experience,' I said, 'too many people believe themselves capable of working at these higher levels without having the least idea of the exacting demands involved. It is certainly not suited to just any body.'

'As far as I am concerned, Miss Kenton, my vocation will not be fulfilled until I have done all I can to see his lordship through the great tasks he has set himself. The day his lordship's work is complete, the day he is able to rest on his laurels, content in the knowledge that he has done all anyone could ever reasonably ask of him, only on that day, Miss Kenton, will I be able to call myself, as you put it, a well-contented man.'

'For my part, Miss Kenton, whenever new recruits arrive, I like to make doubly sure all is well. I check all aspects of their work and try to gauge how they are conducting themselves with other staff members. It is, after all, important to form a clear view of them both technically and in terms of their impact on general morale. I regret to say this, Miss Kenton, but I believe you have been a little remiss in these respects.'

Rather, it was as though one had available a never-ending number of days, months, years in which to sort out the vagaries of one's relationship with Miss Kenton; an infinite number of further opportunities in which to remedy the effect of this or that misunderstanding.

There was surely nothing to indicate at the time that such evidently small incidents would render whole dreams forever irredeemable.

But I see I am becoming unduly introspective, and in a rather morose sort of way at that.

But I see I am becoming unduly introspective, and in a rather morose sort of way at that.

One would have thought that having to abandon the Ford on some lonely hill, having to walk down to this village in near darkness by the unorthodox route one did, would be sufficient inconvenience to befall one for a single evening.

The way he said this seemed to suggest the whole village was aware of my 'mishap' and subsequent arrival at this cottage.

I didn't have a great deal to do with Mr Churchill. But as you rightly point out, it's rather gratifying to have consorted with him. In fact, all in all, I suppose I have been very fortunate, I would be the first to admit that. It has been my good fortune, after all, to have consorted not just with Mr Churchill, but with many other great leaders and men of influence - from America and from Europe.

It seemed to me that Dr Carlisle went on looking at me for an inordinate length of time.

However, the unfortunate misunderstanding aside, there are perhaps one or two other aspects to this evening's events which warrant a few moments' thought - if only because otherwise they may come to niggle one throughout the coming days.

The gentleman in question went on gazing at me for a moment without changing the somewhat languid posture he had adopted in his armchair.

From my vantage point up on my ladder, I could see practically the whole of his long figure caught in the winter sunshine pouring in through the french windows and streaking much of the room.

His frame, always slender, had become alarmingly thin and somewhat misshapen, his hair prematurely white, his face strained and haggard.

Year after year goes by, and nothing gets better. All we do is argue and debate and procrastinate.

Of course, it is quite absurd to expect any butler to be in a position to answer authoritatively questions of the sort Mr Spencer had put to me that night, and the claim of people like Mr Harry Smith that one's 'dignity' is conditional on being able to do so can be seen for the nonsense it is.

It is not simply that one is unlikely to be able to meet the many demands of service at the higher levels while one's attentions are being diverted by such matters; more fundamentally, a butler who is forever attempting to formulate his own 'strong opinions' on his employer's affairs is bound to lack one quality essential in all good professionals: namely, loyalty.

However, if a butler is to be of any worth to anything or anybody in life, there must surely come a time when he ceases his searching; a time when he must say to himself: 'This employer embodies all that I find noble and admirable. I will hereafter devote myself to serving him.' This is loyalty intelligently bestowed.

What is there 'undignified', what is there at all culpable in such an attitude? How can one possibly be held to blame in any sense because, say, the passage of time has shown that Lord Darlington's efforts were misguided, even foolish?