This goat Osterman! Hadn't he any sense, that fool?
Couldn't he ever learn how to behave before a feemale?
Calling him "Buck" like that while Mrs.Derrick was there.

Why a stable-boy would know better; a hired man would have better manners.

All through the dinner that followed Annixter was out of sorts, sulking in his place, refusing to eat by way of vindicating his self-respect, resolving to bring Osterman up with a sharp turn if he called him "Buck" again.
The Chinaman had made a certain kind of plum pudding for dessert, and Annixter, who remembered other dinners at the Derrick's, had been saving himself for this, and had meditated upon it all through the meal.

No doubt, it would restore all his good humour, and he believed his stomach was so far recovered as to be able to stand it.
But, unfortunately, the pudding was served with a sauce that he abhorred--a thick, gruel-like, colourless mixture, made from plain water and sugar.

Before he could interfere, the Chinaman had poured a quantity of it upon his plate.
"Faugh!" exclaimed Annixter.