Nothing loth, Miss Gibbs agreed; and went into fresh raptures when she saw Toni's bedroom. "My! What lovely furniture!" She went up to the toilet-table and began to examine it. "And these silver brushes and things--are they all yours?" "Yes. Owen gave them to me." "Well to be you," commented Miss Gibbs briskly. "What a lovely long glass, too! Can't you see yourself properly just!" She stood in front of the glass so long that Toni grew impatient. "Hurry up, Fan! I'm sure tea's ready and I'm dying for some. I hadn't much lunch." Thus incited, Miss Gibbs laid aside the flowery hat she had been admiring, disclosing a much curled and waved _coiffure_, and together the cousins ran downstairs, just as Andrews carried in the silver tea-pot and the hot cakes. Kate, true to her word, had made the best of the oval table. She had laid upon it the finest, laciest cloth she could find, and had placed in the centre a tall jar of lilies, while here and there she had found room for small silver bowls of pink roses. The silver tea-tray, with its thin china cups and saucers, stood proudly at the head of the table; and so far nothing could have been more charming. But alas! Even Kate could not hide the eminent unsuitability of the feast itself to its elegant surroundings. True, the bread and butter was of wafer-like thinness, there were hot cakes of the crispest, finest variety, and the plum-cake which was Martha's welcome to the bride was of the richest, most tempting description. But side by side with those delicacies was a dish of shrimps, in all their native vulgarity; and further down, almost hidden in fact by the flowery centrepiece, was a glass dish containing a velvety white cream whose real place should have been on the dinner-table. For a moment Toni's heart misgave her as she saw these things in their blatancy; and she wished she had stuck to the usual tiny sandwiches which Martha sent up when she and Owen were alone. Then she remembered, gratefully, that Fanny was hungry, and common sense whispered that to a girl who had lunched lightly a sandwich was unsatisfying fare. As for Fanny, her spirits, momentarily damped by the sight of the silver tray, rose with a bound as she surveyed the table. "I say, Toni, what a spread! Shrimps, I declare! Well, I thought you'd have been much too smart nowadays to think of them!" "Nonsense!" Toni's depression vanished, and she laughed gaily. "I always did like shrimps--and why shouldn't I have them if I want them? Come and sit down, Fan--here, by me--and do make a good tea!" Fanny needed no second bidding. Taking the seat indicated she leaned forward to examine the silver in the most open fashion. "I say, you've got some tiptop things and no mistake! That cloth is simply lovely--just look at the lace, as fine as fine!" "It belonged to Owen's mother," said Toni, passing her a cup of tea. "There are lots of things like that in the house. Now, Fanny, help yourself--and pass the dish!"