Doctor Simpson relinquished the
seat cheerfully. He had held it a year and he had grown extremely
tired of having to lean back as far as possible in his chair so that
Mrs. Pollock and Miss Grady could converse unobstructedly in front
of him, a position that called for the utmost skill and deliberation
on his part, especially when it came to conveying soup and "floating
island" to such an altitude. (He had once resorted to the expedient
of bending over until his nose was almost in the plate, so that
they might talk across his back, but gave it up when Miss Molly
Dowd acridly inquired if he smelt anything wrong with the soup.)
Mr. Hatch invited Courtney down to the studio to have his photograph
taken, free of charge; Mr. Pollock subjected him to a long interview
about the War; Mr. Webster notified him that he had laid in a small
stock just prior to July the first and that all he had to do was
to "say the word,"--or wink if it wasn't convenient to speak; Miss
Grady told him, at great length, of her trip to New York in 1895,
and inquired about certain landmarks in the Metropolis,--such as
the aquarium, the Hoffman House, Madison Square, Stewart's Drygoods
Store, Tiffany's place,--revealing a sort of lofty nonchalance in
being able to speak of things she had seen while the others had
merely read about them; Mrs. Pollock had him write in her autograph
album, and wondered if he would not consent to give a talk before
the Literary Society at its next meeting; and Margaret Slattery
made a point of passing things to him first at meals, going so far
as to indicate the choicest bits of "white meat," or the "second
joint," if he preferred the dark, whenever they had chicken for
dinner,--which was quite often.
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