They insisted that I should stay to supper, for what good reason could there be for my taking that meal at the hotel--not a very good one--when they would be so glad to have me sup with them and talk about our mutual friends?
I had no reasonable objection to offer, and, returning to the station, I took my baggage to the hotel, where I prepared to sup with the Willoughby family.
They were now a little family of three, although there was a brother who had started away the day before on a bicycling tour very like my own, and they were both so delighted to have Amy visit the Larramies, and they were both so delighted to have her come back.
The supper was a delicate one, suitable for canary birds, but at an early stage of the meal a savory little sirloin steak was brought on which had been cooked especially for me.

Of course I could not be expected to be satisfied with thin dainties, no matter how tasteful they might be.
This house was the abode of intelligence, cultivated taste, and opulence.

It was probably the finest mansion of the town.

In every room there were things to see, and after supper we looked at them, and, as I wandered from pictures to vases and carved ivory, the remarks of the two elder ladies and Miss Willoughby seemed like a harmonized chorus accompanying the rest of the performance.

Each spoke at the right time, each in her turn said the thing she ought to say.
It was a rare exhibition of hospitable enthusiasm, tempered by sympathetic consideration for me and for each other.
I soon discovered that many of the water-color drawings on the walls were the work of Miss Willoughby, and when she saw I was interested in them she produced a portfolio of her sketches.