Do you suppose that, at this time of night, any of these people have the remotest idea of the points of the compass?
Their sole interest at the present moment is to know whether the gallant Major will tumble under the table before he gets through his speech." But the gallant Major did not get through his speech at all, because he never began it.

The longer he stood the unsteadier he grew, and the more profusely he wept.

Once or twice he made a motion, as if straightening himself to begin.

The noise at table then subsided a little.

The guests cried "H'st." There was a moment of silence, during which the eloquent and gallant Major mopped the lingering tears with his napkin, then his mouth opened in a maudlin smile; the roar began again, until at last the smile changed into a burst of sobbing, and to Abel Newt's extreme discomfiture, and Sligo Moultrie's secret amusement, Major Scuppernong suddenly turned and fell upon Abel's neck, and tenderly embraced him, whispering with tipsy tenderness, "My dearest Belch, I love you! Yes, by Heaven! I swear I love you!" Abel called the waiters, and had the gallant and eloquent Major removed to a sofa.
"He enjoys life, the Major, Sir," said Captain Lamb, of Pennsylvania, at Abel's left hand; "a generous, large-hearted man.