Instead of being useful to the hotel, as would naturally be expected, he was a detriment to it, for he did not even come to his meals when they were ready, making a special table necessary three times a day, greatly to the disgust of Mrs. Armsby, who did about everything around the place, from tending the office to superintending the kitchen; and she succeeded so well in all these particulars that occasional strangers had been known to familiarly pat her husband on the back, and congratulate him on keeping a house which was known far and near for its fine attention to guests.
"The Mystery of the Locks"
Edgar Watson Howe
She could not urge Florence to do anything that would clearly be to her husband's detriment, and she did not see how Hunter could help Thorne without neglecting his own harvest.
"A Prairie Courtship"
Harold Bindloss
He already knew that he had ignored the bodily to the detriment of his spiritual existence.
"A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.)"
Mrs. Sutherland Orr