“I prefer Dagnan,” added the pretty critic.
“So do I—rather!” laughed Gethryn.
“Or you,” said the girl.
“Come, come,” cried the young man, coloring with pleasure, “you don’t mean it, Elise!”
“I say what I mean—always,” she replied, marching over to the pups and gathering them into her arms.
“I’m going to take a cigarette,” she announced, presently.
“All right,” said Gethryn, squeezing more paint on his palette, “you’ll find some mild ones on the bookcase.”
Elise gave the pups a little hug and kiss, and stepped lightly over to the bookcase. Then she lighted a cigarette and turned and surveyed herself in the mirror.
“I’m thinner than I was last year. What do you think?” she demanded, studying her pretty figure in the glass.
“Perhaps a bit, but it’s all the better. Those corsets simply ruined you as a model last year.”