Bill.
Mrs. Bent told me of you and asked me to look after you until you got on
to the ways of the Quarter and the tricks of the concierge. I thought
I'd begin by asking you to afternoon tea to-morrow. I wish I could have
you to-day but I've got a model posing for me and I must work every
minute of daylight. I am going to get in the Kinsellas, our other
neighbors, and Polly Perkins,--that is the man who lives in the court
with us. He is not nearly such a big fool as he looks and talks."

"Is his name really 'Polly?'" asked Molly.

"Oh, no! He has a perfectly good man's name, but I am blessed if I
remember it. Everybody calls him Polly. He is a cubist painter, you
know; does the weirdest things and now has taken up a kind of cubist
effect in sculpture; but you will see his things for yourself. I'd like
to give him a good shaking and stand him in the corner. The poor fool
can draw; made quite a name for himself at Carlo Rossi's and has a sense
of color that even this crazy cult can't down. Goodness, how I am
rattling on! I must fly back to my model who has rested long enough. You
will come to-morrow, then? Please bring three tea cups with you," and
the strange looking female strode off.

"Mother, isn't she funny? I like her, though, and think it will be grand
to have tea with her and to meet 'Polly'."

"I like her, too," said Mrs. Brown. "She has such a nice, big, honest
mouth. You know I never could stand little mouths. But, Molly, how on
earth does she manage to wipe her paint brush on the back of her blouse
and keep the front so clean? I wonder what kind of an artist she is."

"Maybe she is a futurist or a symbolist. Anyhow, she is very cordial and
kind. I wish Aunt Clay could know that we are to have tea with a woman
in trousers and a long-haired man."

The shops in the Rue Brea proved to be all that could be desired. A
delightful little coffee, tea and chocolate shop was the first to be
visited. It was no bigger than their tiled kitchen, but was lined with
mirrors which gave it quite a spacious effect. The madame who presided
was lovely and looked just like a cocoa advertisement in her cap and
apron. They made their purchases of freshly ground Mocha-and-Java coffee
and chocolate. The tea they had been warned against by the Marquise
d'Ochte. "Never get tea from a French shop or let a French person make
it for you. Tea is beyond the ken of the French."

Then they went to a creamery, painted white inside and out a