The Boy Broker Part 28

CHAPTER XXII.

THE GREAT BANQUET.

"Gewhittaker! this is splendid, Bob. I didn't think we was coming to no such tony place as what this is," said Tom Flannery.

"Didn't I tell you it wa'n't no Jim Fisk or Boss Tweed ranch?" replied Bob.

"So you did, Bob; but you see I didn't know about them big gla.s.s--what do you call 'em?"

"Chandeliers," suggested Herbert.

"Chandeliers, that's it; but ain't they stunnin', though?"

"Well, there ain't nothin' mean about 'em, I should think," answered Bob.

"No, nor 'bout anything here," said Tom. "I never see so much style slung round before, did you, Herbert?"

"I don't know," answered young Randolph, carelessly.

"Say, Tom, don't make so much fuss about this place. 'Tain't nothin'; no, 'tain't nothin', Tom, beside some er the tony places further up town."

A waiter now came along and handed a bill of fare to Bob, and took away the gla.s.ses to fill them with ice.

"Do them fellers always dress up so with a swallow tail on, Bob?" asked Tom.

"Yes, at a swell place, like this is, they do," answered Bob. "Now that waiter he will be right back and want our orders. The first thing is soup, and there's three kinds--_potage Julienne_, _supreme_, and _consomme a la royale_. Which will you have, Herbert?"

"You may give me the _potage Julienne_," replied the young Vermonter.

"Say 'em again, Bob; I didn't quite catch 'em before," said Tom.

Bob smiled, and obeyed the request.

"Why not have 'em all, Bob?" said Tom, eagerly.

"'Cause 'tain't regular to do that way."

"Well, they are all on there for us, ain't they?"

"They are on for us to take whichever one we want."

"And I can't have but one?"

"No."

"Well, I thought at these er--what do you call 'em?--dinners a feller had everything in the old bill, if he wanted it."

"_Table d'hote_, you mean, Tom Flannery, but you're way off, you are; n.o.body ever has everything."

Tom looked disappointed, even sad.

"Well," continued Bob, "I'm waiting for your order. Which soup will you have?"

"Which you goin' to have, Bob?"

"I'm goin' to have the _consomme_."

"Then I'll take the other one," said Tom.

"The _supreme_?"

"That's him," replied Tom.

"Why do you prefer that?" laughed Herbert.

"Well, you see, it sounds better. That one that Bob has took I can't make no sense out of it nohow, and I don't believe it's good to eat, either--anything with a name like that."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT BANQUET.]

"But the name of your soup is not much better."

"That's so, Herbert. Blamed if I know what they wants to put such stuff on fer a feller to eat fer," said Tom, with an air of disgust.

"Well, Tom, you may as well get used to these names, for you'll get a lot of 'em before you get through this bill," said Bob, laughing.

"Them names don't go all the way through, do they, Bob?" asked Tom, alarmed.

"Yes, plumb through to the end."

"Well, that will spoil my dinner, then, for I don't know nothing about such words."

"No, I guess it won't spoil your dinner, Tom; I'll bet you will eat like a hungry tramp before we get through."

"Maybe I will, Bob Hunter, but I'd like to know what I'm eatin' all the same," replied Tom, somewhat indignant. He did not like to be compared to a hungry tramp.

"That's all right, Tom Flannery; now don't you get off your base so sudden like. You will think you never struck a lay out like this before you get half way down the bill," said Bob, trying to restore good feeling.

"Well, I hope I will, that's what I say. A feller ought to get something good when he has to wade through such blamed old names as these, that don't mean nothin'."

"But they do mean somethin', jest as much as what our words mean to us."

"Do you mean to tell me, Bob Hunter, that anybody uses these words?"

"Of course they do, Tom. They are French words, and French folks know what they mean."

Tom thought for a moment; then he said: