“By the way, I didn’t see Jim Smith at the table.”
“No; he eats with his uncle and aunt afterward. You noticed that old Sock didn’t eat just now.”
“Yes, I wondered at it.”
“He has something a good deal better afterward. He wouldn’t like our dinner any better than we did; but he is better off, for he needn’t eat it.”
“So Jim fares better than the rest of us, does he?”
“Yes, he’s one of the family, you know.”
Just then pleasant fumes were wafted to the boys’ nostrils, and they saw through the open window, with feelings that cannot well be described, a pair of roast chickens carried from the kitchen to the dining-room.
“See what old Sock and Ma’am Sock are going to have for dinner?” said Wilkins, enviously.
“I don’t like to look at it. It is too tantalizing,” said Hector.