The chair sat woodenly in the corner, chuckling at its own thoughts. Last night's party left it tired but not without a sense of humor. Remembering old Mr. Rickelsby sitting tremulously and trying to hold a conversation in his palsied way with Mr. Dunkston who was painfully shy, one couldn't help but laugh. Or consider Wilma Whalen's telling Pixie McClintock that she was dieting, when only moments before she'd stuffed not one, not two, but three cream puffs in her much-overworked mouth.

And that li...