noon
`` He loses twenty thousand , '' commented Storri , `` and that should more than offset those seven thousand lost by me when he refused to protect my deals . As for these , '' and here Storri ran a dark , exultant glance over his imitated signatures , `` every one of them makes a reason why my good friend , Mr. Harley , must now please me and obey me in everything he does . After all , is it a destiny beneath his jowlish fat deserts , that an American pig should become slave to a Russian noble ? '' Congress came together at noon upon the first Monday in December , and obedient to the mandate of the caucus Mr. Frost was made Speaker Frost . The eruptive Mr. Hawke wore an injured air , and when the drawing for seats took place , selected one in a far back row , as though retiring from public life . Mr. Hawke subsequently refused to serve as chairman of the triangular committee named to notify the President that the House had convened , and his declination was accepted by Speaker Frost , who calmly filled the place with a member whom Mr. Hawke despised . Then the House swung into the channel , and went plowing ahead upon the business of the session , and in forty-eight hours , Mr. Hawke , forgotten , had ceased to be important to any save himself .