He called it 'art-breaking, he did.

The long and short of it was, he must prepare himself--and Chaffey's--for the inevitable farewell.

Why, it wasn't as if they had supplied the rag-tags with a _good_ supper.

You should have seen the stuff put before them; every blessed dish a hash-up of leavings and broken meats.

No man with a vestige of self-respect could continue to wait at such entertainments.
And this amid the gilding and the plush and the marble-topped tables, which sickened one with their surface imitation of real rest'rants.
"Wouldn't you like to retire into private life, Ebenezer ?" asked his hostess.