Edith had discovered that he had very foggy notions of the difference between a band and an orchestra, and when it was made clear to him he had held out for a band until Edith threatened tears; but the size of the orchestra they hired consoled him, and he had now no regrets in the matter.
He kept time to the music continually--with his feet, or pounding on the table with his fist, and sometimes with spoon or knife upon his plate or a glass, without permitting these side-products to interfere with the real business of eating and shouting.
"Tell 'em to play 'Nancy Lee'!" he would bellow down the length of the table to his wife, while the musicians were in the midst of the "Toreador" song, perhaps.

"Ask that fellow if they don't know 'Nancy Lee'!" And when the leader would shake his head apologetically in answer to an obedient shriek from Mrs.Sheridan, the "Toreador" continuing vehemently, Sheridan would roar half-remembered fragments of "Nancy Lee," naturally mingling some Bizet with the air of that uxorious tribute.
"Oh, there she stands and waves her hands while I'm away! A sail-er's wife a sail-er's star should be! Yo ho, oh, oh! Oh, Nancy, Nancy, Nancy Lee! Oh, Na-hancy Lee!" "HAY, there, old lady!" he would bellow.

"Tell 'em to play 'In the Gloaming.' In the gloaming, oh, my darling, la-la-lum-tee--Well, if they don't know that, what's the matter with 'Larboard Watch, Ahoy'?
THAT'S good music! That's the kind o' music I like! Come on, now! Mrs.Callin, get 'em singin' down in your part o' the table.

What's the matter you folks down there, anyway?
Larboard watch, ahoy!" "What joy he feels, as--ta-tum-dum-tee-dee-dum steals.

La-a-r-board watch, ahoy!" No external bubbling contributed to this effervescence; the Sheridans' table had never borne wine, and, more because of timidity about it than conviction, it bore none now; though "mineral waters" were copiously poured from bottles wrapped, for some reason, in napkins, and proved wholly satisfactory to almost all of the guests.