if gwendolen did not appear at the breakfast table till everyone else had finished , the only question was how her coffee and toast should be kept hot and crisp ; and when she appeared with her freshly-brushed hair streaming backward and awaiting her mammas hand to coil it up , it was always she herself who had to be tolerant to beg that alice would not stick up her shoulders in that frightful manner , and that isabel , instead of asking questions , would go away .