Lady Margaret was 92 years old, incredibly wealthy, sharp-tongued, and famous for never smiling.<\/p>\n
For over 40 years, she had employed the same loyal butler, Alfred.<\/p>\n
One morning, Alfred nervously approached her.<\/p>\n
\u201cLady Margaret, may I ask for a raise?\u201d<\/p>\n
She slowly looked over her glasses.<\/p>\n
\u201cA raise? Alfred, what possible reason could there be?\u201d<\/p>\n
Alfred cleared his throat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, ma\u2019am\u2026 there are three reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lady Margaret sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFine. Let\u2019s hear them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alfred took a deep breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, I\u2019ve been working for you for over 40 years. I\u2019ve never been late, never stolen anything, and I\u2019ve never once complained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lady Margaret nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cFair enough. What\u2019s the second reason?\u201d<\/p>\n
Alfred swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond\u2026 I\u2019ve been offered a job by another wealthy family. They\u2019re willing to pay me twice what you currently pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lady Margaret raised an eyebrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that so?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n
She leaned back in her chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd your third reason?\u201d<\/p>\n
Alfred hesitated.<\/p>\n
Then he whispered,<\/p>\n
\u201cThird\u2026 I know where you hid the chocolate biscuits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lady Margaret’s eyes widened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biscuits?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean the ones in the locked drawer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe drawer nobody knows about?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared at him for several seconds.<\/p>\n
Then, for the first time in over 40 years\u2026<\/p>\n
Lady Margaret smiled.<\/strong><\/p>\n Alfred smiled nervously.<\/p>\n \u201cSo\u2026 about my raise?\u201d<\/p>\n Lady Margaret stood up, walked over to the drawer, unlocked it, and handed him a biscuit.<\/p>\n \u201cAlfred, after 40 years of loyal service, I think you deserve more than a raise.\u201d<\/p>\n He smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n She pointed toward the door.<\/p>\n \u201cYou deserve retirement.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Alfred’s smile disappeared.<\/p>\n \u201cRetirement?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n She handed him the entire biscuit tin.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd take these with you. Clearly, you know far too much.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n For the first time in 40 years, Alfred couldn’t tell whether Lady Margaret was joking.<\/p>\n Then she smiled again.<\/p>\n \u201cRelax, Alfred. You’re the only person in this house I’d trust with my secrets.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n And Alfred finally understood why she’d kept him around for four decades.<\/p>\n Not because he was the best butler.<\/p>\n But because\u2026<\/p>\n he knew where all the good biscuits were.<\/strong> \ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lady Margaret was 92 years old, incredibly wealthy, sharp-tongued, and famous for never smiling. For over 40 years, she had employed the same loyal butler, Alfred. One morning, Alfred nervously … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":676,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions\/676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytv9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}