Roberts sugared and creamed and poured cups of such coffee as those
fellows had never even _smelled_ before. If you think they were
embarrassed to the degree that they could not eat, you are mistaken.
They were street boys; their lives had been spent in a hardening
atmosphere. Directly the first sense of novelty passed away, and their
poorly-fed stomachs craved the unusual fare served up for them, the
fellows grinned at one another, seized their silver spoons, and dived
into the stews in a fashion that would have horrified every servant in
the house.
How they ate! Oysters and coffee and pickles and cakes and jellies!
There seemed no limit to their capacities; neither did they make the
slightest attempt to correct their table manners. None of them paid any
outward attention to their "sheets," although Alfred and Gracie spread
theirs with elaborate care; they leaned their elbows on the table, they
made loud, swooping sounds with their lips, and, in short, transgressed
every law known to civilized life. Why not?
What did they know about civilized life?
Nevertheless, not one movement of young Ried escaped the notice of some
of them.
He tried still to carry on a conversation; though the business of eating
was being too closely attended to on all sides to let him be very
successful.
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