costs about fifty
cents and a fish about five or six dollars."

To Mrs. Presbury: "I'll have Darcy make you and Miss Presbury--excuse
me, Miss Gower--bouquets of the flowers afterward. Most of them come
from New York--and very high really first-class flowers are. I pay two
dollars apiece for my roses even at this season. And orchids--well, I
feel really extravagant when I indulge in orchids as I have this
evening. Ten dollars apiece for those. But they're worth it."

The dinner was interminably long--upward of twenty kinds of food, no
less than five kinds of wine; enough served and spoiled to have fed and
intoxicated a dozen people at least. And upon every item of food and
drink the general had some remarks to make. He impressed it upon his
guests that this dinner was very little better than the one served to
him every night, that the increase in expense and luxury was not in
their honor, but in his own--to show them what he could do when he
wished to make a holiday. Finally the grand course was reached. Into
the dining-room, to the amazement of the guests, were rolled two great
restaurant joint wagons. Instead of being made of silver-plated nickel
or plain nickel they were of silver embossed with gold, and the large
carvers and serving-spoons and forks had gold-mounted silver handles.
When the lackeys turned back the covers there were disclosed several
truly wonderful young turkeys, fattened as if by painstaking and
skillful hand and superbly browned.

Up to that time the rich and costly food had been sadly medium--like
the wines. But these turkeys were a genuine triumph. Even Mildred
gave them a look of interest and admiration. In a voice that made
General Siddall ecstatic Presbury cried:

"GOD bless my soul! WHERE did you get those beauties, old man!"

"Paris," said Siddall in a voice tremulous with pride and
self-admiration. You would have thought that he had created not merely
the turkeys, but Paris, also. "Potin sends them over to me. Potin, you
know, is the finest dealer in groceries, fruit, game, and so on in the
world. I have a standing order with him for the best of--everything
that comes in. I'd hate to tell you what my bill with Potin is every
month--he only sends it to me once a year. Really, I think I ought to
be ashamed of myself, but I reason that, if a man can afford it, he's a
fool to put anything but the best into his stomach."

"You're right there!" mumbled Presbury. His mo