He began to dance a heavy-footed jig on
a little open place by the kitchen door and the guests stopped talking
to watch. They shouted and clapped their hands. A thunder of applause
arose. The guests who were seated in the parlor and who could not see the
performance got up and crowded into the doorway that connected the two
rooms. Jim became extraordinarily bold, and as one of the young women Tom
had hired as waitresses at that moment went past bearing a large dish of
food, he swung himself quickly about and took her into his arms. The dish
flew across the floor and broke against a table leg and the young woman
screamed. A farm dog that had found its way into the kitchen rushed into
the room and barked loudly. Henry Heller's orchestra, concealed under a
stairway that led to the upper part of the house, began to play furiously.
A strange animal fervor swept over Jim. His legs flew rapidly about and
his heavy feet made a great clatter on the floor. The young woman in his
arms screamed and laughed. Jim closed his eyes and shouted. He felt that
the wedding party had until that moment been a failure and that he was
transforming it into a success. Rising to their feet the men shouted,
clapped their hands and beat with their fists on the table. When the
orchestra came to the end of the dance, Jim stood flushed and triumphant
before the guests, holding the woman in his arms.
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