"Have you a spare one?"

"Dozens; but they're not very clean."

"That's lovely. And let's make the tea weak."

"Oh, I can't drink anything strong! I'm an awful counterfeit."

"I'm beginning to think so. I--wonder if I'm dreaming."

The girls had much in common; they chattered continuously through
the short ride, and when they alighted from the taxi-cab they
disputed over the right to pay for it. When the guest was ushered
into Adoree's apartment she received another surprise, for the
place was neither elaborate nor showy. It consisted merely of two
large, comfortable rooms overlooking a side-street lined with
monotonous brown-stone boarding-houses which for the most part
were inhabited by doctors, dressmakers, and semi-professional
people.

A battered tea-kettle was set to boil over an absurd alcohol-stove
that required expert assistance to maintain its equilibrium.
Adoree flung out of her finery and donned a Japanese robe,
offering another to Lorelei. A plate of limber crackers was
unearthed from somewhere, also the disreputable remains of a box
of marshmallows; and these latter Madamoiselle Demorest toasted on
a hat-pin.

"You're the most extraordinary person," her guest at length
remarked. "Aren't you going to show me your jewels or--anything