Several times did Mr. and Mrs. Treat bustle in and out from behind
the screen, and each time they made some addition to that which
was upon the table, until Toby began to fear that they would never
finish, and the sword swallower seemed unable to restrain his
impatience.
At last the finishing touch had been put to the table, the last
dish placed in position, and then, with a certain kind of grace,
which no one but a man as thin as Mr. Treat could assume, he advanced
to the edge of the platform and said:
"Ladies and gentlemen, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to
invite you all, including Mr. Tyler's friend Stubbs, to the bountiful
repast which my Lilly has prepared for --"
At this point Mr. Treat's speech -- for it certainly seemed as if
he had commenced to make one -- was broken off in a most summary
manner. His wife had come up behind him and, with as much ease as
if he had been a child, lifted him from off the floor and placed
him gently in the chair at the head of the table.
"Come right up and get dinner," she said to her guests. "If you
had waited until Samuel had finished his speech everything on the
table would have been stone cold."
The guests proceeded to obey her kindly command; and it is to
be regretted that the sword swallower had no better manners than
to jump on to the platform with one bound and seat himself at the
table with the most unseemly haste.
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