"Parminter, will you cut up this duck?
Hine, what have you got in front of you?
Really, this is so exceptional an occasion that I think--" he started up suddenly, as a man will with a new and happy idea--"I certainly think that for once in a way we might open a bottle of champagne." Surprise and applause greeted this brilliant idea, and Hine cried out: "I think champagne fine, don't you, Miss Skinner ?" He collapsed at his own boldness.

Parminter shrugged his shoulders to show that champagne was an every-day affair with him.
"It's drunk a good deal at the clubs nowadays," he said.
Meanwhile Garratt Skinner had not moved.

He stood looking across the table to his daughter.
"What do you say, Sylvia?
It's an extravagance.

But I don't have such luck every day.

It's in your honor.