That was the maids' and butlers' nights off.

Because I was a bachelor, they kept me out for a while.

Perriwickturned to Penelope as he set the tray down on a table. "If I might be so bold, my lady-"
"Perriwick!" Blake roared. "If I hear the phrase 'if I might be so bold' one more time, as God is my
witness, I'm going to toss you into the channel!"
"Oh dear," Penelope said. "Perhaps he does have the fever, after all.Perriwick , what do you think?"
The butler reached for Blake's forehead, only to have his hand nearly bitten off. "Touch me and die,"
Blake snarled.

Shy maids are my favorite sort. Aside from wanton ones.

Maids want nothing but husbands, and when they have them, they want everything.

Mamey said that in her day a woman who had not married by the age of thirty was called a thornback, named after a flat, spiny, prehistoric-looking fish.