MAJOR GASDEN’S STORY. 279 
the dinner that had given me so much satisfaction was 
a “game dinner,” got up at great expense, and under 
the immediate superintendence of celebrated bon 
vivants. 
“The conceit of my ability to amuse a party of 
strangers at the social board, vanished into thin air; the 
cause of the wit of my jokes was revealed,—fortunate, 
indeed, as I was, in eating a good dinner, I was still 
more fortunate in meeting with a party of gentlemen, 
who were too delicate to hint at any explanations that 
would, in their presence, inform me of my amusing mis- 
take. 
