Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1916-05-11
CHAPTER v.

II was a brave and lustrous banquet;
and a noisy one, too, because there was
an orchestra among some plants at one
lend of the long dining room, and after
la preliminary stiffness the guests were
Iimpelled to converse--necessarl at
the tops of their voices. The whole
company of fifty sat at great oblong
table. a continent of damask and lace.
with shores of crystal and silver run
ming up to spreading groves of orchids
and lilies and white roses--an inhab-
1ted continent, evidently, for there
were three marvellous, cleaning build
lings; one in the center and one at each
end. white miracles wrought by some
inspired craftsman In sculptural icing
They were models in miniature, and
they represented the Sheridan build
Ing, the Sheridan apartments, and the
pump works Nearly all the guests
recognized them without having to be
told what they were, and pronounced
the likenesses superb.
The arrangement of the table was
jvisibly baronial. At the head sat the
great Thane, with the flower of his
family and Of the guests about him:
then on each side came the neighbors
of the "old" house, grading down to
vassals and retainers-superinte
cashiers. heads of departments, and the
Illke--at the foot, where the Thames
lady took her place as a consolation for
the less important Here, too, among
the thralls and bondmen, sat Bibbs
Sheridan, meek Banquo, wondering
how anybody could look at him and
eat
Nevertheless, there was vast con-
tinuous eating and the talk went on
with the eating, necessarily. 1t rose
over the throbbing of the orchestra and
the clatter and clinking of silver and
.china and glass, and there was
mighty babble.
And through the interstices of this
clamoring Bibbs could hear the con-
tinual booming of his fathers heavy
voice, and once he caught the sentence.
Eyes, young lady, that's just what did
1t for me, and that's Just what II do it
for my boys-they got to make two
blades o. grass grow where one grew
beforew 1t was his familiar flourish,
an old story to Bibbs, and now jovially
detained for the edifcation of Mary
hVertrees.
1t was great night for Sheridan
the very crest Of his wave His big.
smooth, red face grew more and more
radiant with good will and with the
simplest, happiest, most boyish vanity.
He was the picture of health, of good
cheer, aud of power on holiday.
He dominated the table, shouting
jocular questions and railleries at
everyone. His idea was that when
people were having good time they
were noisy; and his own additions to
the hubbub increased his pleasure,
and, Of course, met the warmest en-
enlargement from his guests. He kept
time to the music continually--with
his feet, or pounding on the table with
his fist, and sometimes with spoon or
knife upon his plate or a glass, with
out permitting these side-products to
interfere with the real business of eat
ing and shouting.
TEL 'em to play Nancy Lee'l' he
would below down the length of the
table to his wife, while the musicians
were in the midst of the "Toreador"
song, perhaps. ASK that fellow II
they don't know Nancy Lee'g And
when the leader would shake his head
apologetically in answer to an obedient
shrek from Mrs. Sheridan, the "Torea-
dor" continuing vehemently, Sheridan
would roar half-remembered fragments
of Nancy Lee" naturally mingling
some Blzet with the air of that uxori.
Gus tribute.
No external bubbling contributed to
this effervescence; the Sheridan's table
had never borne wine, and, more be-
cause of timidity about 1t than convic-
tion, II bore none now. And certain
ly no wine could have inspired more
turbulent good spirits In the host. Not
even Bibbs was an alloy In this nights
happiness, for, as Mrs. Sheridan had
said. he had "plans for Bibbs"-plans
which were going to straighten out
soma things that had gone wrong.
80 he pounded the table and doomed
his echoes Of old songs, and then, for
getting these. would renew his friend.
ly railleries. or perhaps, turning to
Mary Vertrees. who sat near him.
round the corner of the table at his
right. he would become autoblograph-
zeal. Gentlemen less naive than he
had paid her that tribute, for she was a
girl who inspired the photographed
impulse In every man who met her-it
needed but the sight Of her.
The dinner seemed, somehow. to cen
ter about Mary vertrees and the Jocund
host as a play centers about its hero
and heroine; they were the rubicund
king and the starry princess OF this
spectacle they paid court to each 9TH