But in
such cases the servants are really known, and are almost as completely a
part of the family as the sons and daughters. There may be disruptions and
quarrels; causes may arise for ending the existing condition of things;
but while this condition lasts the servants in such households are for the
most part only too well inclined to fight the battles of their employers.
Mr. Binns, the butler, would almost foam at the mouth if it were suggested
to him that the plate at Silvercup Hall was not the undoubted property of
the old squire; and Mrs. Pouncebox could not be made to believe, by any
amount of human evidence, that the jewels which her lady has worn for the
last fifteen years are not her ladyship's very own. Binns would fight for
the plate, and so would Pouncebox for the jewels, almost till they were
cut to pieces. The preservation of these treasures on behalf of those who
paid them their wages and fed them, who occasionally scolded them, but
always succoured them, would be their point of honour. No torture would
get the key of the cellar from Binns; no threats extract from Pouncebox a
secret of the toilet. But poor Lizzie Eustace had no Binns and no
Pouncebox.
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