At The Table D'ho^Te, We Had This, For An Incident.
A Very Grave Man - In Fact His Gravity Amounted To Solemnity,
And Almost To Austerity - Sat Opposite Us And He Was
"Tight," But Doing His Best To Appear Sober.
He took up
a CORKED bottle of wine, tilted it over his glass awhile,
then set it out of the way, with a contented look, and went
on with his dinner.
Presently he put his glass to his mouth, and of course
found it empty. He looked puzzled, and glanced furtively
and suspiciously out of the corner of his eye at a
benignant and unconscious old lady who sat at his right.
Shook his head, as much as to say, "No, she couldn't have
done it." He tilted the corked bottle over his glass again,
meantime searching around with his watery eye to see
if anybody was watching him. He ate a few mouthfuls,
raised his glass to his lips, and of course it was
still empty. He bent an injured and accusing side-glance
upon that unconscious old lady, which was a study to see.
She went on eating and gave no sign. He took up his glass
and his bottle, with a wise private nod of his head,
and set them gravely on the left-hand side of his plate
- poured himself another imaginary drink - went to work
with his knife and fork once more - presently lifted
his glass with good confidence, and found it empty,
as usual.
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