remains of the day

Etiquette beween a butler and all others is, at least in Stevens' world, defined clearly and narrowly, and "'dignity' has to do crucially with a butler's ability not to abandon the professional being he inhabits" (42). He is to be chummy but distant with butlers from other households, to maintain a strict professionalism with other employees in his own household, and to remain unquestioningly loyal to his own employer. To achieve "dignity and its crucial link …

…maid in Darlington's employ, denies him any romantic or sexual pleasure, though there obviously exists a great tension between them; Stevens is too late when he finally (sort of) admits his affection for the woman, and Miss Kenton has gone on to make a life of her own (in which she, incidentally, is equally unhappy). Stevens thinks about Miss Kenton even more than he does about Graham, and with an even stronger sense of regret: