Well their guest room was terribly cold: it took hours to fill the bathtub; there was no reading lamp by the bed; three reporters called to interview Ben, two of them kittenish young girls; the breakfasts were just fruit and cereal and toast; coffee was not served at luncheon; the faucets in the wash-basin were the kind that won’t run unless you keep pressing them; four important keys on the piano were stuck and people were invited every night to hear Ben play, and the Buckley family had been augmented by a tremendous police dog, who was “just a puppy and never growled or snapped at anyone he knew,” but couldn’t seem to remember Ben was not an utter stranger.
Ring Lardner, “Liberty Hall”, 1924
Photo: R. Kennedy Stephen
