Jacques and Pierre were taking Sara to the kitchen to feed her while Mr. Carrisford left to talk Miss Minchin (Whinny!) into replacing herself with Miss Amelia.
"What would you like to eat?" Jacques asked.
"Oh, I don't know…I suppose whatever you would like to make." Sara smiled. "Oh, with some escargot on the side if you have any."
"You like ze escargot?" Pierre was surprised. "We know it is an acquired taste."
"I know." Sara giggled, remembering Becky's reaction when she told her about them. "But papa was always a fan of French culture and food - ironic for a British gentleman - and he introduced me to them."
"Well, since we love ze escargot too we indeed have plenty and would be more zan happy to make zem!" Jacques beamed before getting a package of snails out of the icebox. "Please wait in ze dining room while we cook."
"If you please, I would rather stay here and talk." Sara sat on a stool. "I would love to hear more about how Mr. Carrisford hired you two."
"Oh we would love to tell you- Soleil! How many times must we tell you no escargot for puppies! You know ze sauce gives you a tummy ache!" Pierre scolded.
Soleil pouted, having been caught trying to nab a snail, and went over to grumpily sit next to Sara. Sara giggled, finding the scene adorable.
"Anyway, when we were chimney sweeps we had tough times getting enough money for food and a decent place to sleep. But zen one day not too long ago we were sweeping Mr. Carrisford's chimney when our stomachs growled, betraying our hunger to him." Pierre continued. "He was concerned that we were hungry despite having steady jobs, so he told us zat when we were done to wash up and meet him in ze kitchen. We obeyed, and to our surprise he had cooked a meal for us."
"We were so overwhelmed by his kindness that we couldn't stop sobbing with with joy and gratitude." Jacques added. "This caused Mr. Carrisford to realize that we had been having trouble getting enough food, and he awkwardly guessed that we couldn't even afford a decent place to sleep. We were forced to admit zat he was right, so he told us zat he was planning on hiring a couple servants to help him take care of his home, and if we didn't mind becoming butlers he would be happy to hire us. He already saw zat we were hard workers and was willing to help us learn how to be butlers so zat we could have a more comfortable life, rather zan hiring an already-trained one who would be able to easily get a job somewhere else anyway."
"He zen added zat if we didn't want to be his butlers we didn't have to, instead he would just give us some food to go and enough money to buy a decent place to sleep." Pierre said. "However while we loved sweeping chimneys and hanging out on ze rooftops we were tired of encountering snobs, especially ze ones who barely paid us for our work. And we loved ze idea of working for someone so kind and generous. So even though we were unsure about being butlers we accepted ze job, and while we still miss sweeping chimneys we have never been happier."
"Oui. We were pleasantly surprised to find that not only did we not have to worry about growing hungry or cold anymore, but we were allowed to take as many breaks as we wanted and treat him as a friend instead of a boss." Jacques beamed. "Of course we ended up not taking advantage of his offer of as many breaks as we wanted, instead we simply take one break in ze morning to give Soleil a walk and another in ze afternoon for tea. Mr. Carrisford walks Soleil the rest of ze time, since after all he is his dog."
Sara smiled at the story. After all when she had first met Jacques and Pierre she had thought about how cheerful and happy they were and used that to judge Mr. Carrisford as a kind and generous man. She was really happy to hear further proof of her being right, especially since it brought to her mind what he had said about her papa wanting to befriend him because of the way he treated the orderlies, or army servants. Hearing how Mr. Carrisford treats Jacques and Pierre gave her a clear idea of how he used to treat the orderlies, and she loved it very much. While the orderlies probably rarely got breaks, due to needing to serve other soldiers besides him, Mr. Carrisford likely tipped them well and made sure they had enough to eat. He probably even cared for them whenever they got sick, and maybe even made sure they were out of danger whenever a battle took place. She didn't know much about armies and battles of course, but no matter what she might learn in the future she would always know that Mr. Carrisford had been the best soldier for the orderlies to serve after her papa.