The music resumed its careful rhythm not long after the brief disturbance at the long table had faded into the background of the evening. A server moved along the hall with a tray of glasses balanced steadily at shoulder height, and the soft reflections of chandelier light slid across the marble floor beneath the shifting crowd.
On the surface, the banquet continued exactly as planned.
But the room had become more attentive.
Several of the older patrons near the entrance turned their heads almost at the same moment. It was not an obvious movement. A pause in conversation here, a glance toward the doors there. Something subtle had shifted near the foyer.
A quiet murmur passed between two trustees standing near the reception table.
"The Chairman is here."
