"Have you authorization?"
"Authorization, sir?"
"What is this?" roared the petty functionary.
"Why, nothing at all. It means dance—ball—a little dance we had."
"Dance—ball." The other repeated the words with a severity that champed upon its bits. "Are you this party?" He tried to pronounce Jim's formidable name on the card.
"Yes, sir."
"What does this mean—Sec., CCC?" he roared again.
Deming was getting upset, confused besides by his inadequate vocabulary.
"I don't know in German, but in English we say Secretary of the Cinderella Cotillion Coterie."
"Ah, you say Secretary. It is English." And an enlightened satisfaction furrowed the hardened face of the interlocutor. Then, abruptly to Deming's relief: