A Public Dinner. 35 



dinner were becoming impatient. Anxious eyes were turned towards 

 the stewards, who, decorated with blue sashes and carrying wands in 

 their hands, bore no distant likeness to mutes. These gentlemen were 

 constantly passing to and fro from the dining-room (the tables of which 

 were hidden from sight by a screen), the door being kept carefully 

 locked by an important little gentleman, who was indulged with a 

 .longer wand and a broader sash than any body else, and who, we 

 were informed, was the director of the Charity. Never were men 

 so envied as these privileged ones, till, in an unhappy hour, an habitue 

 of the hall happened to whisper that " the stewards had dined toge- 

 ther already." The said stewards were evidently ruined for the 

 evening in the estimation of the other gentlemen present. 



We said that the assembled company was getting impatient : men 

 were seen drumming upon their knees, and looking anxiously at 

 the door ; those who had friends, took them by the arm walked 

 up and down and pretended to talk ; those who were friendless, 

 like ourselves, lounged about with their hands behind them nestled 

 beneath their coat-tails : all of us read over in turns, three times at 

 least, the inscription on the flag of the Institution, and admired the 

 crowns, laurel wreaths, and little deities, with which it was deco- 

 rated : one man alone was happy enough to have secured a piece of 

 orange-peel, which he amused himself with kicking from one end of 

 the room to the other; a curious augury, by the way, of the merits 

 of the dessert. 



Mark that little punchy man with a small red face, who has just 

 plunged into the room as if he expected to be last at table. See how 

 he looks about him, surprised to find that he is in time. Now he is 

 calculating the distance between himself and the dining-room door! 

 Having sopped the perspiration from his brow, he has time to think 

 what an old fool he was for hurrying. He does think so, and he is 

 quite right. He looks at his watch, then at his ticket. There was 

 some disparity between the two statements, as usual. The punchy 

 gentleman waxes wroth, and begins to think that people should keep 

 to their time in these matters. 



"Waiter !" said a pale-faced man, with a stoop and a small voice, 

 " waiter, if I am not mistaken, dinner was to have been on table at 

 half-past five, and now it 's six ! positively it's six ! " 



"Yes, Sir!" said the man, ** and so it was on table; and there 

 it is now ! Oh law no, Sir, you are not a bit mistaken : we are only 

 a-waiting for the chairman." 



"Chairman indeed, chairman pray who is the chairman'? " said 

 another fidgetty gentleman, who had listened to the above colloquy, 

 addressing the room ; and then adding, in a lower tone, when the 

 room did not reply, "It's to be hoped that this chairman will get cold 

 as well as the dinner, any how ! " 



While these matters passed, our short squab friend had quitted ihe 

 position which he had occupied near the entrance, but, upon looking 

 towards the crowd now assembled round the dining-room door, I 

 perceived him standing tip-toe behind two very tall men, and en- 

 deavouring to catch a glimpse of the haven of his desires. 



D 2 



