there are married couples looking domesticated and bored with each other,
there are small parties and large parties
and lone individuals dining solemnly or feasting boisterously,
but all thinking, conversing, joking or scowling as is their wont
and just as receptive of new impressions as their trunks when on travel
the dark faced waiters trip without noise
in the small and polished floor,
now and then a girl's laugh can be heard,
as innocent and empty as her mind,
or, in a sudden hush of crockery
a few words in an affected brawl from some wit
embroidered for the benefit of a grinning tableful
the last funny story of a scandal
****Excerpt:"Lord Jim" by Joseph Conrad
