Arden went home to dinner, and by one o'clock Edith said to Hannibal:
"There is one good thing about the place if no other. It gives one a savage appetite. What have you got in the basket?"
"A scrumptious lunch, Miss Edie. I told de landlady you'se used to havin' things mighty nice, and den I found a hen's nest in de barn dis mornin'."
"I hope you didn't take the eggs, Hannibal," said Edith slyly.
"Sartin I did, Miss Edie, cause if I didn't de rats would."
"Perhaps the landlady would also if you had shown them to her."
"Miss Edie," said Hannibal solemnly, "findin' a hen's nest is like findin' a gold mine. It belongs to de one dat finds it."
"I am afraid that wouldn't stand in law. Suppose we were arrested for robbing hens' nests. That wouldn't be a good introduction to our new neighbors."
"Now, Miss Edie," said Hannibal, with an injured air, "you don't spec
I do a job like dat so bungly as to get cotched at it?"
"Oh, very well," said Edith, laughing, "since you have conformed to the morality of the age, it must be all right, and a fresh egg would be a rich treat now that it can be eaten with a clear conscience. But, Hannibal, I wish you would find a gold mine out in the garden."