"The most gorgeous place I ever saw!"

Alice and Ruth were standing in the doorway of the hotel to which the
moving picture company had been taken. They were looking out into the
ladies' court--into a sun-lit and palm-girded garden, wherein a fountain
played, the water falling with a musical tinkling.

Birds flitted here and there amid the bright flowers, but to the moving
picture girls the palms seemed the most wonderful of all. Such palms!

"I never realized that the great Creator could make anything so
beautiful," murmured Ruth, reverently. "And, Oh! Alice; to think that
_we_ can enjoy it!"

"Yes, isn't it wonderful, after all the storm and stress of the fire, to
be in this lovely, calm place?"

"And the best part of it is that we're getting _paid_ for it!" observed a
voice behind the two girls. They turned, with a start, for they had lost
themselves in a dreaming reverie, to find Russ and Paul smiling at them.
It was Paul who spoke.

"It does seem a shame to take the money under these circumstances," added
Russ, with a laugh.

"It's like a vacation," agreed Alice. "Oh, but isn't it just--just too--"

She was evidently searching for a fitting simile.