This Ellen proceeded to do, having an attentive listener, who at the end of the tale exclaimed: “What luck! It is the most romantic story I have heard for an age. Are you going to keep the ‘delectable youths’ all to yourselves, or are you going to let the rest of us in on the fun?”
“Now, Hettie Truesdell, what do you take us for?” cried Mabel. “Of course we want you to meet them. To-day’s feast is their affair, so we can’t ask any one to that, but we’ll get up something when we can share them with you.”
Hettie laughed. “How pleased they would be to hear us talk of sharing them, as if we were cannibals. Why can’t they join us on the trip up to Goose Island that we have planned for day after to-morrow?”
“Why not, indeed? We’ll propose it to them. Farewell, Hettie; we’ll see you to-morrow and tell you what happens.”
They went off to join Miss Rindy, who had gone ahead to meet the boys at the wharf, and the small company was soon landed at little Minor’s Island. As they entered what Tom and Reed were pleased to call “the studio,” the girls looked around in surprise, for the boys had made a most attractive place out of the shabby little building. On the walls they had tacked building paper, which made an excellent background for a number of sketches. They had resurrected an old armchair from the haunted house, had covered it with stuff of pleasant tone, had made a rough table and two benches, had covered the floor with rag rugs, and had put up shelves on which two brass candlesticks and some bits of pottery were placed as ornaments.
“You are perfect wonders!” exclaimed Mabel. “You remember what this place looked like when we first saw it, Ellen.”
“I certainly do, and it looked only fit for chickens or cows.”
“We’ve worked like Trojans,” Reed told them, “but it has been great sport. There is a lot more we can do, but we shall not attempt it this year. We sleep in the loft, have two bunks there, and here is our kitchenette.” He opened a door into a small compartment where stood a blue-flame stove, a few dishes, and some cooking utensils; a wooden tray held the clams.
In a few minutes all fell to work and the chowder was made ready, proving as satisfactory as expected. Bread and butter, fruit, coffee, and a large chocolate cake completed the meal.
“And where did you get the cake?” asked Ellen. “I know you didn’t make it.”