The Mayor kept an impatient eye on David, and the moment breakfast was done he was at David's side, hat in hand. "We can't talk in here," he said. "I've got a key to the Liberty Assembly Hall. Let's go over there." And excusing themselves to Rogers, he led David out.
The big ball-room, scattered about with the débris of the previous night's pleasure, had in the cold light of morning a look of desolation which even the mural cascades and seas and mountains could not dispel. The room was a fit setting for the despairing face the Mayor turned upon David when the hall door was locked behind them. The Mayor did not speak for several seconds, held his gaze straight on David; then he shouted, his mask of self-control flung aside:
"Well, you see me! What d'you think o' me?"
"What's up?
"It's all up! I've gone and done it!"
"Done what?"
"What?—I've done It!—I'm engaged!"
There was frantic hopelessness in the Mayor's voice and in the Mayor's face.
"You don't say so!" David ejaculated.
"I did say so!"