Piper he had before him, a Mr. Piper, too, in
spite of all the oddities of the present situation, so obviously at home in
his own house.
None of them said anything in particular until the mixture in the glasses
had sunk about half-way down. Then Mr. Piper remarked in a pleasant voice,
"I don't often permit myself--seldom even before the country adopted
prohibition--but the present circumstances seem to be--er--unusual
enough--to warrant--" smiled cheerfully and lifted his glass again. When
he had set it down he looked at Mrs. Severance, then at Oliver, and then
started to speak.
Oliver listened with some tenseness, knowing only that whatever he might
possibly have imagined might happen, what would happen, to judge from the
previous events of the evening, would be undoubtedly so entirely different
that prophecy was no use at all. But, even so, he was not entirely prepared
for the unexpectedness of Mr. Piper's first sentence.
"I feel that I owe you very considerable apologies, Oliver," the President
of the Commercial began with a good deal of stateliness. "In fact I really
owe you so many that it leaves me at rather a loss 'as to just how to
begin.
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