Miss Laura Dixon and Miss Pearl Pennington most decidedly turned up their noses at the breakfast table when they saw Estelle sitting between Ruth and Alice. And their murmurs of disdain could be plainly heard.
"She here? Then I'm going to leave!"
"The idea of amateurs butting in like this! It's a shame!"
Fortunately Estelle was exchanging some gay banter with Paul and did not hear. But Ruth and Alice did, and the latter could not avoid a thrust at the scornful ones. To Ruth, in an unnecessarily loud voice, Alice remarked:
"Do you remember that funny vaudeville stunt we used to laugh over when we were children—'The Lady Bookseller?'"
"Yes, I remember it very well," answered Ruth. "What about it, Alice?" for she did not catch her sister's drift.
"Why, I was just wondering how many years ago it was—ten, at least, since it was popular, isn't it?"
"I believe so!"
"It's no such a thing!" came the indignant remonstrance from Miss Pennington. It was in this sketch that she had made her "hit," and as she now claimed several years less than the number to which she was entitled, this sly reference to her age was not relished. "It was only six years ago that I starred in that," she went on.
"It seems much longer," said Alice, calmly. "We were quite little when we saw you in that. You were so funny with your big feet——"