He stood in the midst of the feminine throng, the solitary male figure looking at his cup of chocolate, and a slice of sticky cake, and at an ice representing a chocolate lily, which somebody had placed for special delectation upon a little table at his right.

Then Alice Mendon came to his rescue.
She deftly took the plate with the sticky cake, and the cup of hot chocolate, and substituted a plate with a chicken mayonnaise sandwich, smiling pleasantly as she did so.
"Here," she whispered.

"Why do you make a martyr of yourself for such a petty cause?
Do it for the faith if you want to, but not for thick chocolate and angel cake." She swept away the chocolate lily also.

Von Rosen looked at her gratefully.

"Thank you," he murmured.
She laughed.