"Come on in, Lexie," she said. "We can't wait. We shan't be home till past two. And if we're late back we'll be fined."
"There's the tin of—" Alexandra began and stopped.
Maggy had pushed open the swing doors. The grateful smell of hot and well-made coffee and savory, nourishing food, cheapness notwithstanding, made her surrender to temptation. Deprivation has this effect. De Freyne, lunching expensively at the Savoy, recognizing here and there approved members of his chorus and their cavaliers, could not be expected to know anything of empty stomachs. Besides, it was their own fault if the girls did not know which side their bread was buttered.
They sat down at one of the marble-topped tables. A waitress came towards them.
"Two cups of coffee, rolls and butter—"
This was Alexandra's order.
"Coffee, rolls, and two steak-and-kidney puddings," augmented Maggy recklessly.
Unmoved, the attendant went off to execute the order.
Maggy met Alexandra's startled eyes. Her own were defiant.
"Don't tell me," she said. "It'll cost us nearly eighteenpence. I don't care. I'm going to pay, and if I don't go bust that way I shall do something worse. We're going to feed, dear!"