A patent medicine advertisement zigzagged across his brain, and with a sigh of relief, he muttered, "The 'and that slaps the baby rocks the world," beaming on the guests with the air of a man who has Shakespeare at his fingers' ends.

There was a dead silence, and Dad looked round in wonder.

Then a woman tittered, and a shout went up that rattled the windows.
It was nearly twelve when the party broke up, chiefly because the "Woolpack" was closed and the supply of beer was cut off.

Some of the men had reached the disagreeable stage, maudlin drunk or pugnacious, anxious to quarrel, but forgetting the cause of dispute.

The police, who had looked on with a tolerant eye, began to clear the footpaths, shaking the drowsy into wakefulness, threatening and coaxing the obstinate till they began to stagger homewards.
There was nearly a fight in the cottage.