'Did he ever flirt with you?'
'No; he's not my style.'
'I know what that means,' thought Mildred.
The conversation paused, and then Elsie said:
'It really is a shame to upset him with Rose, unless you mean to marry him. Even the impressionists admit that he has talent. He belongs to the old school, it is true, but his work is interesting all the same.'
The English and American girls were dressed like Elsie and Cissy in cheap linen dresses; one of the French artists was living with a cocotte. She was dressed more elaborately; somewhat like Mildred, Elsie remarked, and the girls laughed, and sat down to their bowls of coffee.
Morton and Elsie's young man were almost the last to arrive. Swinging their paint-boxes they came forward talking gaily.
'Yours is the best looking,' said Elsie.
'Perhaps you'd like to get him from me.'
'No, I never do that.'