32/37 I didn't like to tell you, sir. I'd hoped I might have got help from the outside, but it seems, sir, the hotels are all the same way." "Do you mean to say," said Mr.Fyshe, speaking very slowly, "that there is no dinner ?" "I'm sorry, sir," moaned the waiter. "It appears the chef hadn't even cooked it. Beyond what's on the table, sir, there's nothing." The social catastrophe had come. Dr.Boomer, with his great face transfixed, stared at the empty oyster-shells, thinking perhaps of his college days. |