“I certainly do,” Philip agreed. “And Pat and Ann Mary will need all the extra help they can get. If things work out the way we hope they will, we’ll have to hire more people from the village.”
Penny nodded. “I’m very pleased with Kitty. She looks like a dear, and she’ll make a nice appearance waiting on the table.” She sighed. “It’s too bad anyone as attractive as Ann Mary must stay in the kitchen most of the time.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Phil said with a laugh. “I’m sure all our guests will want to go back and tell her how good her food is and they’ll get to know her that way. Besides,” he went on, “she won’t stay in the kitchen all the time. Even if she’s supposed to do nothing but cook, you know Ann Mary will pitch in and help the others whenever she has any spare time.”
“That’s true,” Penny said thoughtfully. “And I’m beginning to see what you mean about our getting organized. We really should all work according to some sort of schedule so we won’t be getting in each other’s way.”
“Exactly,” Philip said. “We must have a serious meeting this evening and assign definite tasks to each one of us.”
“Right after dinner,” Penny agreed. “Now, before we go back to work in the house, let’s read the mail the postman left on the porch a while ago. I—I,” she confided, “I’m sort of hoping I’ll hear from Peter Wyland. He’s not sure he can take a vacation from his job until the end of summer.”
“Cheer up, Sis,” Phil said encouragingly. “Maybe there’ll be a letter from him saying he can come sooner.”
They hurried up the steps to the porch where a stack of letters was waiting for them.