Max was left with them now.
He stood back by the wall, still looking helplessly from one to the
other. The restaurant men were bustling about the floor; and Hilda was
glad they were there, for she knew that Bannon meant to send Max away,
too. She was too nervous to stand still; and she walked around the
table, resetting the knives and forks and spoons. The paper napkins on
this table were the only ones in the room. She wondered at this, and
when the noise of the men had died away into a few jeering cries from
the street, and Max had gone to get the flags (for she had said that
they should be hung at this end of the room), and the waiters were
bustling about, it gave her a chance to break the silence.

"Aren't the other"--she had to stop to clear her throat--"aren't the
other men going to have napkins?"

"They wouldn't know what they were for."

His easy tone gave her a momentary sense of relief.

"They'd tie them on their hats, or make balls to throw around." He
paused, but added: "It wouldn't look bad, though, would it?--to stand
them up this way on all the tables."

She made no reply.

"What do you say?" He was looking at her. "Shall we do it?"

She nodded, and then dropped her eyes, angry with herself that she could
not overcome her nervousness. There was another silence, and she broke
it.

"It would look a good deal better," she said, "if you have time to do
it. Max and I will put up the flags."

She had meant to say something that would give her a better control of
the situation, but it sounded very flat and disagreeable--and she had
not meant it to sound disagreeable. Indeed, as soon as the words were
out, and she felt his eyes on her, and she knew that she was blushing,
she was not sure that she had meant it at all. Perhaps that was why,
when Bannon asked, in a low voice, "Would you rather Max would help
you?" she turned away and answered in a cool tone that did not come from
any one of her rushing, struggling thoughts, "If you don't mind."

She did not see the change that came over his face, the weary look that
meant that the strain of a week had suddenly broken, but she did not
need to see it, for she knew it was there. She heard him step down from
the platform, and then she watched him as he walked down the aisle to
meet Max, who was bringing up the flags. She wondered impatiently why
Bannon did not call to him. Then he raised his head, but before a word
had left his lips she was speaking, in a cle