"This isn't my treat. My part is to carry out the little surprise. Mr. Stuart sent out the marshmallows to me, asking me to give you girls a toast. It is a real treat, isn't it?"
"Glorious!" breathed the girls.
"Did you children ever do fire-gazing?" asked Olive after a moment of silence as the girls helped themselves to the sweets.
The "Automobile Girls" confessed their ignorance of the game. Olive explained that each girl was to gaze into the fire then describe what forms or figures appeared to grow out of the flames or coals.
"I see a red automobile," cried Mollie, almost as soon as she had fixed her gaze on the fire. "And, oh, look at the man driving it! He is all in red, wears a pointed beard and has a cloven foot. Isn't he a frightful looking creature?"
"Your imagination needs no encouragement," declared Olive. "Let us hope that the gentleman with the cloven foot may drive his car up the chimney flue and fly away. What do you see, Ruth?"
"I see a fiery pit with a lot of imps dancing about, hurling balls of fire at each other."
Bab was gazing at the fire in wrapt attention.
"I see a black chest, but I can't see what it holds, for the cover is down. There goes the cover! Oh, look, girls! See the gold and the sparkling jewels! See the golden coins glitter in the light of the fire! Oh, oh, oh!"