We had hardly exchanged greetings before another man was announced, and then another. I should say that it was at intervals of about three minutes that the sedate servant appeared in the curtained doorway and announced a caller, until nine had been admitted. My spirits soared high as the gentlemen from the Prescott Arms appeared one after the other. The earlier arrivals rose to greet the later ones,—and as they were all in evening clothes I experienced, as when I had seen the same gentlemen in their afternoon raiment crossing the stile, a sense of something fantastic and eerie in them. There was nothing unusual about them, taken as individuals; collectively they were like life-size studies in black and white that had stepped from their frames for an evening's recreation. Cecilia introduced me in the order of their arrival; and in the interest of brevity, and to avoid confusion, I tabulate them here, with a notation as to their residence and occupation, taking such data from the notebook in which, at subsequent dates, I set down the facts which are the basis of this chronicle.
HARTLEY WIGGINS, Lawyer and Farmer; Hare and Tortoise Club, New York.
LINNÆUS B. HENDERSON, Planter; Roanoke, Virginia.
CECIL HUGH, LORD ARROWOOD, no occupation; Arrowood, Hants, England.
DANIEL P. ORMSBY, Manufacturer of Knit Goods; Utica, New York.
S. FORREST HUME, Lecturer on Scandinavian Literature, Occidental University; Long Trail, Oklahoma.
JOHN STEWART DICK, Pragmatist; Omaha, Nebraska.
PENDENNIS J. ARBUTHNOT, Banker and Horseman; Lexington, Kentucky.
PERCIVAL B. SHALLENBERGER, Novelist and Small Fruits; Sycamore, Indiana.
GEORGE W. GORSE, Capitalist; Redlands, California.