Marie Manning

“ Still every one was desperately hungry, in spite of the constant mailing of bread, butter, and ice-water due to the friendly co-operation of the 'bus-boy. No one had the courage, after Annabelle's experience, to again try the lottery of the bill of fare, where a nice, tempting word like "écrevisse" was apt to come back to you in the shape of little red grasshoppers.
Presently Margery threw up her head like an impatient young pony. "I wish people would stop staring at this table; every time I look up some one is smiling at us." ”

“ Their joyous anticipations of the Cambridge attracted the attention of Margery's mother, who, with the valiant assistance of the Encyclopedia Britannica, was composing a club paper on "Social Customs of the Early Phœnicians." Her mind submerged in the late festivities of Tyre and Sidon, Mrs. Hunton grasped vaguely that John Warren's grandmother had given him a present for passing his examinations, which he generously proposed spending in taking his young friends to a movie, or something of the sort. ”

“ John Warren brushed the melancholy locks from his eyes. "S'pose every one's perfec'ly well, but the man who's givin' the dinner just changes his mind and tells them not to come. Could that be done, mamma?"
"No gentleman would act that way."
"It would be against a gentleman's honor to tell them to stay home?" ”

“ On the night of the festivity a pale young man with a damp and slicked-back hair, feet and hands that jerked, seemingly under the control of an outside influence, led his guests down that valley of palms, gilt, and staring eyes that the ambitious town enjoyed calling "peacock alley." ”

“ There were no girls in the Forbes household; mother, father, John Warren, and a six-year-old brother named Maddox made up the family. Maddox had acquired a gusty temper because so many ladies told him he looked like "a little angel" and wanted to kiss him. Otherwise he had a refractory liver, a source at once of importance and income. The money received by the angelic tornado for drinking hot water, eating spinach, and sometimes taking castor-oil, he was in the habit of salting away in a padlocked stronghold known as "the liver bank." ”

“ They consulted, and, deciding to stand or fall together, ordered simultaneous service. A colored 'bus-boy gave them bread, butter, and ice-water, which they devoured; again he supplied them; again they ate ravenously; the process of supplying and despatching bread, butter, and water continued—in its simplicity it suggested mailing letters. They were less afraid of the 'bus-boy than of the waiter. John Warren asked him when Polonitzka would dance. ”

“ Accordingly, Maddox, the faithful, cast about for consolation that could be offered to a boy of John Warren's advanced age. Naturally it was epicurean; great indeed must be his brother's woe if it could not be lifted by news of pop-overs and strawberry jam for breakfast. ”

“ Why couldn't they be sent to a tailor like any other man's? But he knew the suggestion would be vetoed. It took a good deal of feminine strategy to get him ready for the lawn party; he had outgrown all last summer's clothes and the garments that were to replace them had not yet been selected. The extent to which his mother and the seamstress were concerned in his toilette seemed nothing short of disgraceful, considering his age and size. Mrs. Simpson let down the hems of his white trousers and constructed "cuffs" to make them longer ”

“ Harris went through a sort of pussy-wants-a-corner game to avoid sitting next the intellectual Miss Davis. Margery, as hostess, was devoting herself to an older man, who must have been every day of nineteen or twenty; they called him Mr. Urquhart. While John Warren planned how he could sit next to the hated Margery, Miss Davis fell upon him and asked him about school ”

“ If you're thinking of entertaining, take a vegetarian." His parent departed, chuckling over the idea.
At the end of an hour, one looking over John Warren's shoulder would have seen four sheets of foolscap covered with strings of names beginning Margery, Bessie, Annabelle, Harris, Brown, Self, and then followed problems in division, division, division—long and short—with the sum of ten dollars unfailingly as the dividend. ”

“ His father's trained eye appraised the fallen hair, obtrusive wrists, ankles, outgrown clothes, and general hobbledehoy aspect of his older son, and concluded his first suspicions were unfounded—the idea was too preposterous.
"About five dollars a plate, if one knows how to order well."
"Do you have to eat dinner to see Polonitzka dance?"
"You pay about four times the price of everything and they throw in the Russian lady and her gyrations. ”

“ Mr. Urquhart brought Miss Davis a plate of ice-cream, almost forcibly displacing John Warren, who sat beside her. And, with a baffled feeling, the prep. boy wondered if there was more in that kind of talk than he had imagined.
Miss Davis and Mr. Urquhart began to discuss an evening they had spent at the Cambridge. In the words of its own unblushing advertisement, the Cambridge was "the most exclusive hotel in town and was prepared to cater to the most exclusive patronage."
"The orchestra was extraordinary—for a hotel," Miss Davis condescended.
"And the eats! Oh, boy!" Mr. ”