Hereat I cried out mercy.
Captain DeWitt (stretched nursing a leg) removed his silk handkerchief from his face to murmur,
'The bass stedfastly drowns the treble, if this is meant for harmony.'
My father rang up the landlord, and said to him,
'The choicest of your cellar at dinner to-day, Mr. Lumley; and, mind you, I am your guest, and I exercise my right of compelling you to sit down with us and assist in consuming a doubtful quality of wine. We dine four. Lay for five, if your conscience is bad, and I excuse you.'
The man smirked. He ventured to say he had never been so tempted to supply an inferior article.
My father smiled on him.
'You invite our editorial advocate?' said Captain DeWitt.
'Our adversary,' said my father.
I protested I would not sit at table with him. But he assured me he believed his advocate and his adversary to be one and the same, and referred me to the collated sentences.