Why Lord Darlington did what he did can perhaps be understood by his understanding and definition of the kind of “professionalism” he wants to advocate, one that has the “desire to see goodness and justice prevail in the world” rather than one that runs on “greed and advantage” as exemplified by Mr Lewis’ in the novel (Ishiguro, 1989, p. 103). In line with the latter definition of a professional, and in contrast to the previous generation of butlers in various houses of England, Stevens explains that his generation was less snobbish and much more idealistic regarding the owner’s status they serve. The former considered their service worthy only to the ‘old families’, and the latter centre their “professional prestige” around the moral status of the owner, meaning that “we were ambitious, in a way that would have been unusual a generation before, to serve gentlemen who were [. . .] furthering the progress of humanity” (1989, p. 114).