I move you, sir, that the St. Filipe
Club pass a vote of unqualified censure upon its Executive Committee
for admitting in the investigation of an alleged violation of its rules
the testimony of a servant, thereby assuming that the word of a
gentleman could not be taken in answer to any question the committee
had a right to ask."
He had grown pale with excitement as he went on, and his voice gained
in force until the last words were clear and ringing to the farthest
corners of the room.
A universal stir succeeded the silence with which he had been heard.
Half a dozen men were on their feet at once amid a babble of comment,
protestation, and approval. The Secretary managed to get the floor.
"Mr. President," he said, his round face flushed with anger, and his
fat hands so shaking with excitement that the papers on the table
before him rustled audibly, "since it must be evident that the
gentleman's remarks are instigated by anger at the committee's
treatment of himself, it is only justice to the committee to state what
many of the members may not know, that a letter of ample apology has
been sent by them to Mr. Fenton."
The men who had been eager to speak paused at this, and everybody
looked at the artist.
"Mr. President," he said, with a delightful sense of having himself
perfectly in hand, and of being in an unassailable position, "I have
been insulted by the committee under cover of a charge which they now
acknowledge to be false; and, contrary to the usage of the club, a
printed notice of this has been sent to every member.
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