Winnie's plan for making the gridiron answered perfectly, and in a minute six trout lay sputtering side by side upon it.
"Doesn't it make one hungry to look at them?" cried Bobbo, in delight.
Rosie appealed anxiously to Winnie to know how long she thought they ought to take cooking.
"I don't know exactly," said Winnie. "We must just guess!" And so well did they guess that when the six trout were all served up together in the flat wooden bowl, decorated with sprays of arbutus leaves and berries, the children decided that they had never sat down to such a jolly dinner.
They were as hungry as hungry could be. The fish and brown cake were delicious; the hut was most cosy with its carpet of green leaves and its blazing fire, and even Theresa could not help being gay and light-hearted.
By the time dinner was over, however, the short October afternoon was reminding them that, even taking the shortest way home by the road, they had some little distance to go, and nothing had yet been quite settled about Theresa.
"Now, listen, and I'll tell you what my plan is," said Murtagh. "This hut is a very nice place to live, and I vote Theresa stays here. There are three fish left, and a bit of cake. That'll do for her supper and breakfast. We can collect a lot of wood; then she can fasten the door inside and keep herself warm with a jolly big fire all night; not a soul will ever know she's here, and to-morrow—"
"Well, but, Murtagh," interrupted Rosie, "we can't—!"
"Stop a minute," said Murtagh, "I thought all about it on the way up here. To-morrow we must make up our minds to ask old Plunkett something. It's not very nice, but then, you know, it's not the same as if it was for ourselves. We'll just tell him all about it; how the rent was lost, and then, though he is such a—what he is—he'll let them off paying after an accident like that. Then, Theresa, we'll all go home with you, and your mother'll be so awfully glad to see you, after thinking you're lost, that she won't think a word about anything except kissing, and of course when the rent's all right your stepfather won't touch you."
"What a splendid plan!" cried Winnie and Bobbo together, as Murtagh looked round for admiration.