However, there was no catastrophe.
Then arrived two customers, one in a dress suit and an eyeglass, and
the other in a large violet hat, a diamond necklace and a yellow
satin skirt. The which customers, seemingly well used to the sight of
drunken waiters tottering to and fro with towers of plates, sat down
at a table and waited calmly for attention. The popular audience, with
that quick mental grasp for which popular audiences are so renowned,
soon perceived that the table was in close proximity to a lofty
sideboard, and that on either hand of the sideboard were two chairs,
upon which the two waiters were trying to climb in order to deposit
their plates on the topmost shelf of the sideboard. The waiters
successfully mounted the chairs and successfully lifted their towers
of plates to within half an inch of the desired shelf, and then the
chairs began to show signs of insecurity. By this time the audience
was stimulated to an ecstasy of expectation, whose painfulness was
only equalled by its extreme delectability. The sole unmoved
persons in the building were the customers awaiting attention at the
restaurant table.
One tower was safely lodged on the shelf. But was it? It was not! Yes?
No! It curved; it straightened; it curved again. The excitement was as
keen as that of watching a drowning man attempt to reach the shore.
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