"It is good to know," said Rose. "Here we have all been rubbing our manners up, to receive you properly."
"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Magnus, turning to gaze at Cherry. "Good to know, as you say. I did suspicion it was something got up for my express benefit."
"Let her alone, and finish your supper," said Mrs. Kindred. "That is, if you ever intend to finish."
"Emphatically I do!" said Magnus. "If I didn't, I could never begin again, and that would be a loss out here. Cherry, give me just a few berries off your plate. I am bashful about taking any more out of the dish. The sugar has given out, too," he added, dropping his voice; "and these will not want any."
Poor Cherry!—she literally found not a word to say, but sat looking down at her plate in helpless silence, as the hands she remembered so well conveyed away part of its contents. Then Rose came with a replenished sugar-bowl and set it down by him. But Magnus waved it away.
"Thank you, no," he said. "These are too sweet for sugar. How do you suppose Cherry worked it, to get them all on her plate?"
"Crazy boy!" said Rose, "you put them there yourself. Magnus, is your dress coat here?"
"Truly. Had to bring it along, lest a war should break out before I get back. May need it yet——" with an indescribable inflection which only Cherry caught.
"Then if you have done, as mother says," said Violet, "go straight upstairs and put it on, and come down and show yourself."