Old Grannis dared not move, but sat rigid, his eyes riveted on his empty soup plate.
All at once there was a report like a pistol.

The men started in their places.

Mrs.Sieppe uttered a muffled shriek.

The waiter from the cheap restaurant, hired as Maria's assistant, rose from a bending posture, a champagne bottle frothing in his hand; he was grinning from ear to ear.
"Don't get scairt," he said, reassuringly, "it ain't loaded." When all their glasses had been filled, Marcus proposed the health of the bride, "standing up." The guests rose and drank.

Hardly one of them had ever tasted champagne before.