sole a la
Marguery_. Nancy craftily spurred him on to his most ambitious
achievements under pretense of wishing her own appetite stimulated,
and the big cook, who adored her, produced triumph after triumph of
his art for her delectation, whereupon the biggest part of it was
cunningly smuggled out to the artist. From behind her screen of vines
Nancy watched the fine features of her quondam friend light with the
rapture of the _gourmet_ as be sampled Gaspard's sauce _verte_ or
Hollandaise or lifted the glass cover from the mushrooms _sous cloche_
and inhaled their delicate aroma.

"I wonder if he finds our food very American in character, now," she
said to herself, with a blush at the memory of the real southern
cornbread and candied sweet potatoes that were offered him in the
initial weeks of his patronage. Gaspard still made these delicacies
for luncheon, but they had been almost entirely banished from the
dinner menu. Afternoon tea at the Inn was famous for the wonderful
waffles produced with Parisian precision from a traditional Virginian
recipe, but Collier Pratt never appeared at either of these meals to
criticize them for being American.

CHAPTER VI

AN ELEEMOSYNARY INSTITUTION

One night during the latter part of July Betty had a birthday, and
according to immemorial custom Caroline and Nancy and Dick and Billy
helped her to celebrate it at one of the old-fashioned down-town
hotels where they had ordered practically the same dinner for her
anniversaries ever since they had been grown up enough to celebrate
them unchaperoned. Caroline's brother, Preston, had made a sixth
member of the party for the first two or three years, but he had been
located in London since then, in charge of the English office of his
firm, to which he had been suddenly appointed a month after he and
Betty, who had been sweethearts, had had a spectacular quarrel.

Nancy stayed by the celebration until about half past nine, and
then Dick put her into a taxi-cab, and she fled back to her
responsibilities as mistress of Outside Inn, agreeing to meet the
others later for the rounding out of the evening. As she drew up
before the big gate the courtyard seemed practically deserted. The
waitresses were busy clearing away the few cluttered tables left
by the last late guests, and in one sheltered corner a man and a girl
were frankly holding hands across the table, while they whispered
earnestly of some impending parting. The big canop