His Revenge

Gibson draws a grand ballroom cleared of guests at 4:15 a.m. On the left, three women in elaborate trained gowns—Mrs. Diggs and two daughters—stand exhausted and exasperated, fanning themselves or clutching programs, clearly ready to leave. On the right, the older Mr. Diggs, in white-tie formal dress, whirls a young woman energetically across the empty floor, his bald head thrown back with unmistakable glee. Chairs sit abandoned in the background; a musicians' gallery looms above. The joke is domestic payback: after two decades of being dragged to society balls and scolded for sulking, Diggs has at last caught the fever—at the precise moment his wife and daughters are dead on their feet. Gibson's sympathy, characteristically, lands with the put-upon husband rather than the exhausted women.