They were treated, unexpectedly, to a well-conceived anticlimax.

A voice spoke softly, but quite clearly, from the back of the hall: 'Bedad, and I shouldn't wonder if it was in the London restaurants.' A roar of laughter followed.

The orator might no doubt have made an effective reply, but every time he opened his mouth minor wits, rending like wolves the carcase of the original joke, yelled 'turtle-soup' at him, or 'champagne and oysters.' He got angry, and consequently flurried.

He tried to quell the tumult by thundering out the denunciation which he had prepared.

But the delight which the audience took in shrieking the items of their imaginary bill of fare was too much for him.