Edith rose herself to greet the three young men who followed Theodore into the dining room. They were plainly dressed and obviously slightly embarrassed. Roosevelt introduced them by name or rather by nicknames.
“This is Lew, and Ike, and Cricket. They shared their shelter with me one rainy night in Cuba.”
“We hate to bust in this way, ma’am,” said Cricket, who was older than the other two. “We asked the Colonel to let us go and wait and come back.”
“Nonsense! You’ve come a long way and it’s cold outside,” the Colonel said. “Sit here, and here, and you, Ike, over there.” He introduced the children who forgot to eat in their excitement.
“Mighty pretty daughters you’ve got, Colonel. Smart-looking boys, too,” said Ike.
“Thank you,” Edith replied graciously, not looking at Alice, who had murmured thanks and straightened her shoulders, posing a little as she was inclined to do.
Roosevelt ordered the turkey brought back and began carving and filling the three extra plates put before him.
“These boys came up here all the way from South Carolina,” he explained to Edith, “and stopped to call on me.”
“We’re on our way to Pennsylvania. Got jobs in the mills there, ma’am, but when we got near this place we just had to see the Colonel, so we hired a rig and come out here. Never thought about its being Christmas.”
“You’re very welcome,” Edith assured them.