An instant later the curtained folding doors which separated the anteroom from the dining-saloon were thrown open. Mr. Jefferson passed in and took his place at the head of the table, casting not a single look toward any who were to join him there. There was no announcement; there was no pas, no precedence, no reserved place for any man, no announcement for any lady or gentleman, no servant to escort any to a place at table!
It had been worse, far worse, this extraordinary scene, had it not been for the swiftness and tact of the young man to whom so much was entrusted. Meriwether Lewis hastened here and there, weeding out those who could not convince him that they were invited to dine. He separated as best he might the socially elect from those not yet socially arrived, until at length he stood, almost the sole barrier against those who still crowded forward.
Here he was met once more by the party from behind the davenport.
"Tell me," demanded Mr. Merry, who--seeing that no other escort offered for her--had given his angry lady his own arm, "tell me, sir, where is the President? To whom shall I present the greetings of his British Majesty?"
"Yonder is the President of the United States, sir," said Meriwether Lewis. "He with whom you shook hands is the President. He stands at the head of his table, and you are welcome if you like. He asks you to enter."
Merry turned to his wife, and from her to the wife of the Spanish minister.
"Impossible!" said he. "I do not understand--it cannot be! That man--that extraordinary man in breeches and slippers yonder--it cannot be he asks us to sit at table with him! He cannot be the President of the United States!"
"None the less he is, Mr. Merry!" the secretary assured him.
"Good Heavens!" said the minister from Great Britain, as he passed on, half dazed.
By this time there remained but few seats, none at all toward the head of the table or about its middle portion. Toward the end of the room, farthest from the official host, a few chairs still stood vacant, because they had not been sought for. Thither, with faltering footsteps, ere even these opportunities should pass, stepped the minister from Great Britain and the minister from Spain, their ladies with them--none offering escort.
Well disposed to smile at his chief's audacious overturning of all social usage, yet not unadvised of the seriousness of all this, Meriwether Lewis handed the distinguished guests to their seats as best he might; and then left them as best he might.