down here and do it. No singing, then. But Mrs. Phillips was not quite
satisfied. Wouldn't I recite something? Heavens! Well, of course I know
lots of poems--_c'est mon metier_. I repeated one. Then other
volunteers were called upon--it was entertaining with a vengeance! The
young ladies had to chip in also--though they, of course, were prepared to.
And one of the young business-men did some clever juggling; and Mrs. Ryder
sang a little French ballade; and Mr. Randolph--poor man!--was suddenly
routed out of his placidity, and responded as well as he could with one or
two little stories, not very pointed and not very well told. But I judge he
makes no great claim to being a _raconteur_--he was merely paying an
unexpected tax as gracefully as he could.

"Well, as I was saying, the man in the wheeled chair came in. Of course he
hadn't been down to dinner--I think I saw a tray for him carried along the
hall. As he was working his way through the door, I suppose I must have
been talking and laughing at my loudest; and that big, bare room, done in
hard wood, made me seem noisier still. He sort of stopped and twitched, and
appeared to shrink back in his chair: I presume my tones went straight
through the poor twisted invalid's head. He must have fancied me (from the
racket I was making) as a sort of free-and-easy Hercules (which is not
quite the case), if not as the whole football squad rolled into one.
Whether he really saw me, then or thereafter, I don't know; he wore a sort
of green shade over his eyes. Of course I met him in due form. I tried not
to give his poor hand too much of a wring (another of my bad habits); but
he took all I gave and even seemed to hang on for a little more. He sat
quietly to one side for a while, and I tried not to act the bull of Bashan
again. Anyhow, he didn't start a second time. Presently he pulled out
rather unceremoniously: the two young business-men had begun a sort of
burlesque fandango, and their feet were pretty noisy on the bare floor. He
started off after looking toward the piano and then toward me; and Mrs.