You left the library
door open when you called Mr. Dowden out."
"So," I returned, maliciously, "you--you couldn't HELP following!"
She released my hand--gently, to my surprise.
"Hush," she whispered. "He's saying something."
"Ladies and gentlemen," said Beasley again--and stopped again.
Dowden's voice sounded hysterically in my right ear. (Miss Apperthwaite
had whispered in my left.) "The only speech he's ever made in his
life--and he's stuck!"
But Beasley wasn't: he was only deliberating.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began--"Mr. and Mrs. Hunchberg, Colonel
Hunchberg and Aunt Cooley Hunchberg, Miss Molanna, Miss Queen, and Miss
Marble Hunchberg, Mr. Noble, Mr. Tom, and Mr. Grandee Hunchberg, Mr.
Corley Linbridge, and Master Hammersley:--You see before you to-night,
my person, merely the representative of your real host. MISTER Swift.
Mister Swift has expressed a wish that there should be a speech, and has
deputed me to make it. He requests that the subject he has assigned me
should be treated in as dignified a manner as is possible--considering
the orator. Ladies and gentlemen"--he took a sip of water--"I will now
address you upon the following subject: 'Why we Call Christmas-time the
Best Time.'
"Christmas-time is the best time because it is the kindest time. Nobody
ever felt very happy without feeling very kind, and nobody ever felt
very kind without feeling at least a LITTLE happy.
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