It was a fine sight to see him tucking his napkin under
his rosy old gills, and letting it fall over his capacious waistcoat
wwle the high light from the chandelier danced about the bump of
benevolence on his bald old head like a star of Bethlehem.
The soup was real turtle; the old gentleman was evidently well
pleased and he was beginning to come out. Gelstrap stood behind his
master's chair. I sat next Mrs. Theobald on her left hand, and was
thus just opposite her father-in-law, whom I had every opportunity
of observing.
During the first ten minutes or so, which were taken up with the
soup and the bringing in of the fish, I should probably have
thought, if I had not long since made up my mind about him, what a
fine old man he was and how proud his children should be of him; but
suddenly as he was helping himself to lobster sauce, he flushed
crimson, a look of extreme vexation suffused his face, and he darted
two furtive but fiery glances to the two ends of the table, one for
Theobald and one for Christina. They, poor simple souls, of course saw
that something was exceedingly wrong, and so did I, but I couldn't
guess what it was till I heard the old man hiss in Christina's ear:
"It was not made with a hen lobster.
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