In the second story
the blinds were drawn and on the first floor the verandas were empty.
Nor, not even after he had mounted to the veranda and stepped inside the
house, was there any sign that his visit was expected. He stood in a
hall, and in front of him rose a broad flight of stairs that he guessed
led to the private supper-rooms. On his left was the restaurant.
Swept and garnished after the revels of the night previous, and as
though resting in preparation for those to come, it wore an air of
peaceful inactivity. At a table a maitre d'hotel was composing the menu
for the evening, against the walls three colored waiters lounged
sleepily, and on a platform at a piano a pale youth with drugged eyes
was with one hand picking an accompaniment. As Wharton paused
uncertainly the young man, disdaining his audience, in a shrill, nasal
tenor raised his voice and sang:
"And from the time the rooster calls
I'll wear my overalls,
And you, a simple gingham gown.
So, if you're strong for a shower of rice,
We two could make a paradise
Of any One-Horse Town.
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