FORE:It was obvious by this time that the family lunch was going to be rather a stormy sort of passage, and Mrs Keeling had before this caught her husband��s eye, and with dumb movements of her lips and querying eyebrows had communicated ��Champagne?�� to him, for it was known that when Mrs Goodford was in a worrying mood, a glass of that agreeable beverage often restored her to almost fatuous good humour. But her husband had replied aloud, ��Certainly not,�� and assumed his grimmest aspect. This did not look well: as a rule he was content to suffer Mrs Goodford��s most disagreeable humours in contemptuous silence. Now and then, however, and his wife was afraid that this was one of those tempestuous occasions, he was in no mind to lie prone under insults levelled at him across his own table. "Then it was ever so funny to see the men bowing to each other; they did it with so much dignity, as if they had all been princes, or something of the sort. They rest their hands on their knees, and then bend the body forward; and sometimes they bend so low that their backs are level[Pg 89] enough to set out a tea-service on and use them for a table. When they want to bid good-bye, they say 'Sayonara,' just as we say 'Good-bye,' and it means exactly the same thing. They are not satisfied with one bow, but keep on several times, until you begin to wonder when they will get through. Everybody says they are the politest people in the world, and I can readily believe it if what I have seen is a fair sample.