"We didn't mean to, Mother," said Ted.
"Oh, but we're so scared!" exclaimed Jan, and as Grandma Martin put her arms about the little girl she felt Jan's heart beating faster than usual.
"Why, what is the matter?" asked the old lady.
"Me wants a wide wif Nicknack!" demanded Baby William, as he stood beside his mother in the doorway.
"No, Trouble. Not now," answered Ted. "Nicknack is tired and has to have his supper. Is there any supper left for us?" he asked eagerly.
"Well, I guess we can find a cold potato, or something like it, for such tramps as you," laughed Grandpa Martin. "But where on earth have you been, and what kept you?"
Then Ted put Nicknack in the barn. But when he came back he and Jan between them told of having stayed playing later than they meant to.
"Well, you got home only just in time," said Mother Martin as she took the children to the dining-room for a late supper. "It's starting to rain now."
And so it was, the big drops pelting down and splashing on the windows.
"But what frightened you, Jan?" asked Grandma Martin.