SINCE IT WAS Thomas Trumbull who was going to act as host for the Black Widowers that month, he did not, as was his wont, arrive at the last minute, gasping for his preprandial drink.
There he was, having arrived in early dignity, conferring with Henry, that peerless waiter, on the details of the menu for the evening, and greeting each of the others as he arrived.
Mario Gonzalo, who arrived last, took off his light overcoat with care, shook it gently, as though to remove the dust of the taxicab, and hung it up in the cloakroom. He came back, rubbing his hands, and said, "There's an autumn chill in the air. I think summer's over."
"Good riddance," called out Emmanuel Rubin, from where he stood conversing with Geoffrey Avalon and James Drake.
"I'm not complaining," called back Gonzalo. Then, to Trumbull, "Hasn't your guest arrived yet?"
Trumbull said distinctly, as though tired of explaining, "I have not brought a guest."
"Oh?" said Gonzalo, blankly. There was nothing absolutely irregular about that. The rules of the Black Widowers did not require a guest, although not to have one was most unusual. "Well, I guess that's all right."
"It's more than all right," said Geoffrey Avalon, who had just drifted in their direction, gazing down from his straight - backed height of seventy - four inches. His thick graying eyebrows hunched over his eyes and he said, "At least that guarantees us one meeting in which we can talk aimlessly and relax."
Gonzalo said, "I don't know about that. I'm used to the problems that come up. I don't think any of us will feel comfortable without one. Besides, what about Henry?"
He looked at Henry as he spoke and Henry allowed a discreet smile to cross his unlined, sixtyish face. "Please don't be concerned, Mr. Gonzalo. It will be my pleasure to serve the meal and attend the conversation even if there is nothing of moment to puzzle us."
"Well," said Trumbull, scowling, his crisply waved hair startlingly white over his tanned face, "you won't have that pleasure, Henry. I'm the one with the problem and I hope someone can solve it: you at least, Henry."
Avalon's lips tightened, "Now by Beelzebub's brazen bottom, Tom, you might have given us one old - fashioned - "
Trumbull shrugged and turned away, and Roger Halsted said to Avalon in his soft voice, "What's that Beelzebub bit? Where'd you pick that up?"
Avalon looked pleased. "Oh, well, Manny is writing some sort of adventure yarn set in Elizabeth's England - Elizabeth I of course - and it seems - "
Rubin, having heard the magic sound of his name, approached and said, "It's a sea story."
Halsted said, "Are you tired of mysteries?"
"It's a mystery also," said Rubin, his eyes flashing behind the thick lenses of his glasses. "What makes you think you can't have a mystery angle to any kind of story?"
"In any case," said Avalon, "Manny has one character forever swearing alliteratively and never the same twice and he needs a few more resounding oaths. Beelzebub's brazen bottom is good, I think."
"Or Mammon's munificent mammaries," said Halsted.
Trumbull said, violently, "There you are! If I don't come up with some problem that will occupy us in worthwhile fashion and engage our Henry's superlative mind, the whole evening would degenerate into stupid triplets - by Tutankhamen's tin trumpet."
"It gets you after a while," grinned Rubin, unabashed.
"Well, get off it," said Trumbull. "Is dinner ready, Henry?"
"Yes it is, Mr. Trumbull."
"All right, then. If you idiots keep this alliteration up for more than two minutes, I'm walking out, host or no host."
The table seemed empty with only six about it, and conversation seemed a bit subdued with no guest to sparkle before.
Gonzalo, who sat next to Trumbull, said, "I ought to draw a cartoon of you for our collection since you're your own guest, so to speak." He looked up complacently at the long list of guest - caricatures that lined the wall in rank and file. "We're going to run out of space in a couple of years."
"Then don't bother with me," said Trumbull, sourly, "and we can always make space by burning those foolish scrawls."
"Scrawls!" Gonzalo seemed to debate within himself briefly concerning the possibility of taking offense. Then he compromised by saying, "You seem to be in a foul mood, Tom."
"I seem so because I am. I'm in the situation of the Chaldean wise men facing Nebuchadnezzar."
Avalon leaned over from across the table. "Are you talking about the Book of Daniel, Tom?"