The man-servant, on closer inspection, resolved himself into a French-Swiss waiter, whose agility and condition were such that he could negotiate the whole ninety stairs of the house, three at a time, without once pausing for breath till he reached the top.
Little Miss Bunting, the lady-help, who lived with Mrs.Lawrence on the understanding that she gave "assistance in light household duties in return for hospitality," was not quite so nimble as Henri, the waiter, and often found her heart beating quite uncomfortably fast by the time she had climbed the ninety stairs to the little cupboard of a room which Mrs.Lawrence's conception of hospitality allotted for her use.

She did the work of two servants and ate rather less than one, and, seeing that she received no wages and was incurably conscientious, Mrs.Lawrence found the arrangement eminently satisfactory.

Possibly Miss Bunting herself regarded the matter with somewhat less enthusiasm, but she was a plucky little person and made no complaint.

As she wrote to her invalid mother, shortly after taking up her duties at Brutton Square: "After all, dearest of little mothers, I have a roof over my head and food to eat, and I'm not costing you anything except a few pounds for my clothes.

And perhaps when I leave here, if Mrs.Lawrence gives me a good reference, I shall be able to get a situation with a salary attached to it." So Miss Bunting stuck to her guns and spent her days in supplementing the deficiencies of careless servants, smoothing the path of the boarders, and generally enabling Mrs.Lawrence to devote much more time to what she termed her "social life" than would otherwise have been the case.
The boarders usually numbered anything from twelve to fifteen--all of the gentler sex--and were composed chiefly of students at one or other of the London schools of art or music, together with a sprinkling of visiting teachers of various kinds, and one or two young professional musicians whose earnings did not yet warrant their launching out into the independence of flat life.