Dinner at Franching's to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle.

　　May 10. - Received a letter from Mr. Franching, of Peckham, askingus to dine with him to-night, at seven o'clock, to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle,a very clever writer for the American papers. Franching apologised forthe short notice; but said he had at the last moment been disappointed oftwo of his guests and regarded us as old friends who would not mindfilling up the gap. Carrie rather demurred at the invitation; but Iexplained to her that Franching was very well off and influential, and wecould not afford to offend him. "And we are sure to get a good dinnerand a good glass of champagne." "Which never agrees with you!" Carriereplied, sharply. I regarded Carrie's observation as unsaid. Mr.

　　Franching asked us to wire a reply. As he had said nothing about dress inthe letter, I wired back: "With pleasure. Is it full dress?" and by leavingout our name, just got the message within the sixpence.

　　Got back early to give time to dress, which we received a telegraminstructing us to do. I wanted Carrie to meet me at Franching's house;but she would not do so, so I had to go home to fetch her. What a longjourney it is from Holloway to Peckham! Why do people live such along way off? Having to change 'buses, I allowed plenty of time - in fact,too much; for we arrived at twenty minutes to seven, and Franching, so theservant said, had only just gone up to dress. However, he was down asthe clock struck seven; he must have dressed very quickly.

　　I must say it was quite a distinguished party, and although we did notknow anybody personally, they all seemed to be quite swells. Franchinghad got a professional waiter, and evidently spared no expense. Therewere flowers on the table round some fairy-lamps and the effect, I mustsay, was exquisite. The wine was good and there was plenty ofchampagne, concerning which Franching said he himself, never wished totaste better. We were ten in number, and a MENU card to each. Onelady said she always preserved the MENU and got the guests to write their names on the back.

　　We all of us followed her example, except Mr. Huttle, who was ofcourse the important guest.

　　The dinner-party consisted of Mr. Franching, Mr. Hardfur Huttle, Mr.

　　and Mrs. Samuel Hillbutter, Mrs. Field, Mr. and Mrs. Purdick, Mr. Pratt,Mr. R. Kent, and, last but not least, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Pooter.

　　Franching said he was sorry he had no lady for me to take in to dinner.

　　replied that I preferred it, which I afterwards thought was a veryuncomplimentary observation to make.

　　I sat next to Mrs. Field at dinner. She seemed a well-informed lady,but was very deaf. It did not much matter, for Mr. Hardfur Huttle did allthe talking. He is a marvellously intellectual man and says things whichfrom other people would seem quite alarming. How I wish I couldremember even a quarter of his brilliant conversation. I made a few littlereminding notes on the MENU card.

　　One observation struck me as being absolutely powerful - though notto my way of thinking of course. Mrs. Purdick happened to say "You arecertainly unorthodox, Mr. Huttle." Mr. Huttle, with a peculiar expression(I can see it now) said in a slow rich voice: "Mrs. Purdick, 'orthodox' is agrandiloquent word implying sticking-in- the-mud. If Columbus andStephenson had been orthodox, there would neither have been thediscovery of America nor the steam-engine." There was quite a silence.

　　It appeared to me that such teaching was absolutely dangerous, and yet Ifelt - in fact we must all have felt - there was no answer to the argument.

　　A little later on, Mrs. Purdick, who is Franching's sister and also acted ashostess, rose from the table, and Mr. Huttle said: "Why, ladies, do youdeprive us of your company so soon? Why not wait while we have ourcigars?"The effect was electrical. The ladies (including Carrie) were in noway inclined to be deprived of Mr. Huttle's fascinating society, andimmediately resumed their seats, amid much laughter and a little chaff.

　　Mr. Huttle said: "Well, that's a real good sign; you shall not be insultedby being called orthodox any longer." Mrs. Purdick, who seemed to be abright and rather sharp woman, said: "Mr. Huttle, we will meet you half way - that is, till you get half-way through your cigar. That, at all events,will be the happy medium."I shall never forget the effect the words, "happy medium," had uponhim. He was brilliant and most daring in his interpretation of the words.

　　He positively alarmed me. He said something like the following: