A Woman of Culture, Chapter XII-XIV [pp. 771-801]

782 A WOMAAr OF CULTURE. [Mar.,
to a side entrance. Another key admitted them into the lower
halls, where a few lamps burned with light suffi6ient to enable
them to find their way in safety. A new stairway to the upper
story had replaced the old, and they mounted quickly, passing
along the hall until they reached a door at the extreme end.
From the moment of their entrance the sound of voices, mingled
with uproarious bursts of laughter, singing, and the clinking of
glasses, had reached their ears. From the room before which
they now stood these noises came. They had an animating effect
on Mr. Juniper. His cheeks glowed, his breath labored as if he
were still buffeting the wind. As with every forward step the
uproar became more distinct and more musical, his exciteme~t
became more uncontrollable, and at last he burst into the room
with a shout that silenced the revel in an instant.
Before it could be resumed a voice cried out:
"The symposiarch."
And the assembly, numbering twenty young men of various
ages, rose respectfully, and, with a clinking of glasses and a rattling of bottles,- cried out:
"The symposiarch."
Mr. Quip moved majestically to a seat at the head of the table
around which the company was gathered.
"I am late this evening, gentlemen," he said. "It is not my
intention to make any excuses, but our friend Juniper became so
conscience-stricken on the way by a few startling incidents that I
was compelled to halt for a time and dose him with moral philosophy. It belongs to you to finish what I began. Continue
the revels."
The symposiarch, waving his hand authoritatively, sat down,
and on the strength of his permission the Babel commenced with
renewed vigor. Mr. Juniper, who was admitted into the assembly because of his former standing as a medical student-for such
each gentleman professed himself to be-was surrounded at once
by a fun-loving crowd, and severely cross-examined as to his
scruples of conscience and his life at the asylum.
The room was filled with smoke, and the outlines of objects
could be seen but dimly. The apartment was large, and in its
glory might have had about it considerable magnificence. The
walls were panelled, and carved with great taste and skill. The
ceiling, darkened by time, neglect, and ill-usage, was of valuable
wood, and the floor and old-fashioned furniture seemed to be of
similar material. The students, who had rented the place as a
sodety~oom for the carrying-on of their orgies undisturbed by