…was different. My wife had formerly been a cook in good families in the West End, and I had often gone out waiting; so that I had a pretty correct notion of what’s what, and could sum up the social status of a family in the twinkling of an eye, if I could get but one peep at the setting of their dinner-table.”What I saw in this instance perplexed me. The owner of the house was supposed to be a gentleman in a good position, but the setting of the cloth was the worst I’ve ever seen. To begin with, the serviettes were put on anyhow; indeed, I noticed that there were one or two short the table was set for six, and I could only count four serviettes. Then there was an unnecessary amount of silver, both table and sideboard literally groaning under the weight of it….