"I hope he won't mind me being in a
dressing-gown."
The gentleman-in-waiting, obsequiously restive, managed to choose the
supper himself. Leaving, he reached the door just in time to hold it
open for the entrance of Mr. Marrier and Mr. Carlo Trent, who were
talking with noticeable freedom and emphasis, in an accent which in
the Five Towns is known as the "haw haw," the "lah-di-dah" or the
"Kensingtonian" accent.
II
Within ten minutes, within less than ten minutes, Alderman Edward
Henry Machin's supper-party at Wilkins's was so wonderfully changed
for the better that Edward Henry might have been excused for not
recognizing it as his own.
The service at Wilkins's, where they profoundly understood human
nature, was very intelligent. Somewhere in a central bureau at
Wilkins's sat a psychologist, who knew, for example, that a supper
commanded on the spur of the moment must be produced instantly if it
is to be enjoyed. Delay in these capricious cases impairs the
ecstasy and therefore lessens the chance of other similar meals
being commanded at the same establishment. Hence, no sooner had the
gentleman-in-waiting disappeared with the order than certain esquires
appeared with the limbs and body of a table which they set up in
Edward Henry's drawing-room, and they covered the board with a damask
cloth and half covered the damask cloth with flowers, glasses and
plates, and laid a special private wire from the skirting-board near
the hearth to a spot on the table beneath Edward Henry's left hand, so
that he could summon courtiers on the slightest provocation with
the minimum of exertion.
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