"The weather is very chapping to my face," the former vaudeville actress went on. "I really must have something," and she departed with the cold cream and some harmless rice powder, which Ruth and Alice used judiciously and sparingly, and only when needed.
The fine supper, late as it was, necessarily, was enjoyed to the utmost. It was bountiful and good, and though at first Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon were inclined to sniff at the lack of "courses," and the absence of lobster, it was noticed that they ate heartily.
"There is only one thing more I want," sighed Paul, as he leaned back in his chair.
"What, pray? It seems to me, and I have been watching you, that you have had about all that is good for you," laughed Alice. "I have seen you get three separate and distinct helpings of fried chicken."
"Oh, I didn't mean anything more to eat," he said, quickly, "and if you are going to watch me so closely I shall have to cut down my rations, I fear. What I meant was that I would like a moving picture of this supper. It has memories that long will linger, but I fain would have a souvenir of it."
"Be careful that you don't get indigestion as a souvenir," laughed Alice, as he followed her sister from the table.
The dining room opened off the great living apartment with that wonderful fire, and following the meal all the members of the company gathered about the hearth.
Outside the storm still raged, and Mr. Macksey, who came in from having with his men, put away the horses, reported that the blizzard was growing worse.
"It's a good thing we thought of changing the bobs and coming on," he said. "Otherwise we might be there yet."
"What really happened?" asked his wife. "I was telling one of the young ladies that it was like pulling teeth to get any news out of you."