'Do you mean us to understand,' said Moulder, 'that after forcing your way into this room, and sitting down along with gentlemen at this table, you refuse to abide by the rules of the room?' And Mr. Moulder spoke and looked as though he thought that such treachery must certainly lead to most disastrous results. The disastrous result which a stranger might have expected at the moment would be a fit of apoplexy on the part of the worthy president.
'I neither ordered that wine nor did I drink it,' said Mr. Dockwrath, compressing his lips, leaning back in his chair, and looking up into one corner of the ceiling.
'The gentleman certainly did not drink the wine,' said Kantwise, 'I must acknowledge that; and as for ordering it, why that was done by the president, in course.'
'Gammon!' said Mr. Moulder, and he fixed his eyes steadfastly upon his Vice. 'Kantwise, that's gammon. The most of what you says is gammon.'
'Mr. Moulder, I don't exactly know what you mean by that word gammon, but it's objectionable. To my feelings it's very objectionable. I say that the gentleman did not drink the wine, and I appeal to the gentleman who sits at the gentleman's right, whether what I say is not correct. If what I say is correct, it can't be—gammon. Mr. Busby, did the gentleman drink the wine, or did he not?'
'Not as I see,' said Mr. Busby, somewhat nervous at being thus brought into the controversy. He was a young man just commencing his travels, and stood in awe of the great Moulder.
'Gammon!' shouted Moulder, with a very red face. 'Everybody at the table knows he didn't drink the wine. Everybody saw that he declined the honour when proposed, which I don't know that I ever saw a gentleman do at a commercial table till this day, barring that he was a teetotaller, which is gammon too. But its P. P. here, as every commercial gentleman knows, Kantwise as well as the best of us.'
'P. P., that's the rule,' growled Snengkeld, almost from under the table.
'In commercial rooms, as the gentleman must be aware, the rule is as stated by my friend on my right,' said Mr. Gape. 'The wine is ordered by the president or chairman, and is paid for in equal proportions by the company or guests,' and in his oratory Mr. Gape laid great stress on the word 'or.' 'The gentleman will easily perceive that such a rule as this is necessary in such a society; and unless—'
But Mr. Gape was apt to make long speeches, and therefore Mr. Moulder interrupted him. 'You had better pay your five shillings, sir, and have no jaw about it. The man is standing idle there.'
