“Even the Wild-Creatures proved monotonous,” the orator proceeded. “So we left the guests to choose their own subjects; and, to avoid monotony, we changed _them_. We made the table of _two_ rings; and the inner ring moved slowly round, all the time, along with the floor in the middle and the inner row of guests. Thus _every_ inner guest was brought face-to-face with _every_ outer guest. It was a little confusing, sometimes, to have to _begin_ a story to one friend and _finish_ it to another; but _every_ plan has its faults, you know.” “Fourth Chapter!” Lady Muriel hastened to announce. “The Revolving-Humorist!” “For a _small_ party we found it an excellent plan to have a round table, with a hole cut in the middle large enough to hold _one_ guest. Here we placed our _best_ talker. He revolved slowly, facing every other guest in turn: and he told lively anecdotes the whole time!” “I shouldn’t like it!” murmured the pompous man. “It would make me giddy, revolving like that! I should decline to——” here it appeared to dawn upon him that perhaps the assumption he was making was not warranted by the circumstances: he took a hasty gulp of wine, and choked himself. But Mein Herr had relapsed into reverie, and made no further remark. Lady Muriel gave the signal, and the ladies left the room. CHAPTER X. JABBERING AND JAM. When the last lady had disappeared, and the Earl, taking his place at the head of the table, had issued the military order “Gentlemen! Close up the ranks, if you please!”, and when, in obedience to his command, we had gathered ourselves compactly round him, the pompous man gave a deep sigh of relief, filled his glass to the brim, pushed on the wine, and began one of his favorite orations. “They are charming, no doubt! Charming, but very frivolous. They drag us down, so to speak, to a lower level. They——” “Do not all pronouns require antecedent _nouns_?” the Earl gently enquired. “Pardon me,” said the pompous man, with lofty condescension. “I had overlooked the noun. The ladies. We regret their absence. Yet we console ourselves. _Thought is free._ With them, we are limited to _trivial_ topics—Art, Literature, Politics, and so forth. One can bear to discuss _such_ paltry matters with a lady. But no man, in his senses—” (he looked sternly round the table, as if defying contradiction) “—ever yet discussed _WINE_ with a lady!” He sipped his glass of port, leaned back in his chair, and slowly raised it up to his eye, so as to look through it at the lamp. “The vintage, my Lord?” he enquired, glancing at his host. The Earl named the date. “So I had supposed. But one likes to be certain. The _tint_ is, perhaps, slightly pale. But the _body_ is unquestionable. And as for the _bouquet_——”