four, they've lost now." ... "Well, they got their raise, and they
went in big." ... "Yes, sir! Not a dollar to his name, and look at
what--" ... "You wait! The population of this town's goin' to hit the
million mark before she stops." ... "Well, if you can show me a bigger
deal than--"

And through the interstices of this clamoring Bibbs could hear the
continual booming of his father's heavy voice, and once he caught the
sentence, "Yes, young lady, that's just what did it for me, and that's
just what'll do it for my boys--they got to make two blades o' grass
grow where one grew before!" It was his familiar flourish, an old
story to Bibbs, and now jovially declaimed for the edification of Mary
Vertrees.

It was a great night for Sheridan--the very crest of his wave. He
sat there knowing himself Thane and master by his own endeavor; and
his big, smooth, red face grew more and more radiant with good will
and with the simplest, happiest, most boy-like vanity. He was the
picture of health, of good cheer, and of power on a holiday. He had
thirty teeth, none bought, and showed most of them when he laughed;
his grizzled hair was thick, and as unruly as a farm laborer's; his
chest was deep and big beneath its vast facade of starched white
linen, where little diamonds twinkled, circling three large pearls;
his hands were stubby and strong, and he used them freely in gestures
of marked picturesqueness; and, though he had grown fat at chin and
waist and wrist, he had not lost the look of readiness and activity.

He dominated the table, shouting jocular questions and railleries
at every one. His idea was that when people were having a good time
they were noisy; and his own additions to the hubbub increased his