I flattered myself on a certain occasion that I had made some very artful arrangements to provide the family with something to eat during the servants' absence.

I had been lamenting the week of experiments in food which would be sure to ensue so soon as the dray should leave, in the hearing of a gallant young ex-dragoon, who had come out to New Zealand to try and see if one could gratify tastes, requiring, say a thousand a year to provide for, on an income of 120 pounds.

He was just finding out that it was quite as difficult to manage this in the Southern as in the Northern Hemisphere, but his hearty cheery manner, and enormous stock of hope, kept him up for some time.
"I'll come and cook for you," he cried.

"I can cook like a bird.

But I can't wash up.