He took a spoonful or two of soup but
refused everything else "from the roast beef down to the lobsters."
Everyone was concerned, for that was a day of trenchermen, and only
serious illness kept people from eating their dinners. At last the
door opened and his own private _chef_,--quaintly described by
Verplanck as "his body-cook,"--rushed into the room pushing the
waiters right and left before him, and placed triumphantly upon the
table an immense pie of game and truffles, still hot from the oven.
This obviously had been planned as a pleasant surprise for the hosts.
Du Moustier took a small helping himself and divided the rest among
the others. The chronicler adds, "I can attest to the truth of the
story and the excellence of the _pate_!"
No one doubts the courteous intentions of the Count, but something
tells me that that excellent housewife and incomparable hostess,
Mistress Adams, was not enchanted by the unexpected addition to her
delicious and carefully planned menu!
It is Verplanck, by the bye, who has put in a peculiarly succinct way
one of the most signal characteristics of New York--its lightning-like
evolution.
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