Bannister: “If you were to serve asparagus, for example, you would lay a finger bowl but no cutlery. The English eat it with their fingers. Americans do not.” 

Who knew serving asparagus could be so fraught? Certainly not Church, the Russell family’s butler, who is being schooled in the ways of the English by Bannister, Agnes’s butler.

I’m still enjoying The Gilded Age, as I’ve just finished the sixth episode, “Heads Have Rolled for Less”. It looks like Bannister may be in serious trouble, as he has lied to Agnes in order to make a quick hundred bucks. Of course, in 1882 $100 was worth considerably more than it is today.

But someone has sent a letter to Agnes revealing the deception, and Agnes is not amused.

Who might have done such a thing?

My money is on Church. Is it my imagination or does he bear a strange resemblance to Spratt?

Church: “Let’s avoid asparagus.”