I followed her docilely down the hall to the door of the pantry where she instructed me to post myself in order to see that the dirty dishes were immediately sent down on the dumb-waiter to be washed and sent up again so that everyone might be served. The waiters, who were perfectly capable of managing by themselves, regarded me with such wounded displeasure that for the half hour I stood on guard I did not utter a word, but leaned against the window where the sunlight was warm, drinking the remains of the champagne in the glasses that came out from the other rooms. Once I closed my eyes to feel the sun on my lids and when I opened them again saw Harry Morgan lounging up against the door giving me what I could only call “a once-over.” Fearing that if Miss Pride chanced to come into the pantry and saw us there together she might surmise that I was responsible for this intrusion, and being, moreover, greatly perturbed by his prowling eyes, I exclaimed, “My God!” and he, straightening up, extended his hand as he said, “May I share your quiet inglenook, dear, just we two?” One of the accommodators, a portly middle-aged man with a bald head and a frowning face, turned on him a look of avuncular disapproval as he pushed past with a tray of glasses and I said, “It’s very crowded in here.”

“Well, then, let’s find a place that isn’t crowded. I can’t go back into that crush.”

“Nobody asked you to,” I said, so nervous that I was obliged to put down the glass I was holding for fear of dropping it. “Nobody asked you to come in the first place.”

“What kind of talk is that? I am guest Number One. I came at the urgent invitation of the doctor himself. No one asked me, indeed!” He laughed openly at my perplexity. “Well, in that case,” I said, “you ought to join the party.”

I myself, feeling that my services in the pantry were dispensable, went out, taking up a place between the long buffet table and the doors to the drawing-room which had been slid back all the way there to examine the implications of the conversation I had just had. I was prevented from a long study by the Admiral who, with old Mrs. McAllister, appeared slowly making his way toward the refreshment table. “Ah,” he cried, spotting me, “here we have an ally. Sonie, what could you do in the way of a hot bird and a cold bottle for two old fellows? I’m hungry as a bear. I tell you, giving away a young lady is hard work. It’s a strain on the heart! Particularly if you wanted her for your granddaughter-in-law.” He winked at his companion. “Well, all’s well that ends well, as they say. And while I’m about consoling myself, ma’am, let me congratulate you on getting a pippin for the boy.”