Rural individualism provides nothing more than a pleasant attraction to city dwellers wiling to move away from the major urban centres, as a staged bucolism.

Lord Cockburn, whose forte was not the civil law, affected to listen attentively and take ample notes, when, at last, on Mr Brodie citing some German civilian with a jawbreaking name, his lordship interrupting him asked, […]

It was loaded with food; sponge-cakes each higher and lighter than the next and oozing frothy cream, plates of sandwiches, egg and lettuce, corned-beef and pickle, and ‘Burdekin Duck’ made of bacon and tomato and cheese squashed up.

Among the story’s other overstrenuous tips for masking the flavor of eggs were poached eggs topped with a hops-scented béchamel, President Taft’s campfire omelet (fried trout, salt and pepper) and the Colony Club’s “Eggs Suffragette,” a twist on deviled eggs that incorporated anchovies (the dish, however, didn’t hasten women’s suffrage).