Perhaps it's just as well, but things used to be livelier.
That serenade was just before Isabel was married--and don't you fret, Miss Lucy: your father remembers it well enough!" The old gentleman burst into laughter, and shook his finger at Eugene across the table.
"The fact is," the Major went on hilariously, "I believe if Eugene hadn't broken that bass fiddle and given himself away, Isabel would never have taken Wilbur! I shouldn't be surprised if that was about all the reason that Wilbur got her! What do you think.

Wilbur ?" "I shouldn't be surprised," said Wilbur placidly.

"If your notion is right, I'm glad 'Gene broke the fiddle.

He was giving me a hard run!" The Major always drank three glasses of champagne at his Sunday dinner, and he was finishing the third.

"What do you say about it, Isabel?
By Jove!" he cried, pounding the table.