BEMINISOENOES OF THE LEWS. 269 



no dinner-table I ever sat down to have T seen 



so many beautiful, happy faces ranged under 



its lights. One understood then the bashful 



Irishman asking the beautiful Duchess of 



Devonshire to let him light his pipe by the 



light of her eyes. And there sat our hostess 



— the merriest of that merry lot, handsomer 



even than her young, beautiful daughter — 



making the best of everything. The order of 



the table was strange — the waiting something 



wonderful : you got nothing you asked for, 



everything you did not want. Still our 



hostess never winced till, turning to her 



butler to beg him to interfere with a footman 



who showed symptoms of commencing a jig 



in the corner with Buttons, she saw her only 



stay lost, and she exclaimed, in an agony of 



despair, ^' Greaves, you are drunk ! " That 



portly, old-fashioned functionary drew himself 



up to his full height, and, with consummate 



dignity, answered, in a clear, sonorous voice, 



" Mrs. B., I'm ashamed at your entertaining 



such mane ideas." This was too much, and I 



don't believe such a roar was ever heard at a 



civilized dinner-table before or since. I once 



dined at a large family party at my banker's in 



Berlin, where the dinner began at three and was 



