“My dear child,” cried Miss Campbell, “you ought not to have taken all this trouble for us. I am afraid we have put you out terribly.”
Virginia smiled and took her hand.
“It is a pleasure. What would Mamma say if she knew we let our guests leave the house hungry?”
The Motor Maids will never forget that supper party. They were taught a lesson in good manners and hospitality that they had not dreamed was possible.
They found themselves in a big old-fashioned kitchen. In the center was a table covered with a splendid damask cloth and set with the most motley and variegated pieces of glass and china ever beheld together outside of a curiosity shop. At Miss Campbell’s place was a beautiful Bohemian glass tumbler. Two silver mugs, one marked “Edward” and the other “Virginia,” stood at the sides and at the other places were several pressed glass tumblers and one or two cracked and chipped teacups of rare old china. Miss Campbell had the only silver knife and fork on the table. In the center was a crystal bowl, which had been cracked and mended, filled with oranges.
Uncle Peter, who was Mammy’s husband, and the ex-butler of this fine old mansion, now appeared in an old blue swallowtail coat with brass buttons. He bore a platter of crisp, fragrant smelling bacon, and Mammy walked behind him with a dish of cornbread.
That was all the supper and no food ever tasted better to the hungry tourists.
“After all,” thought Billie, “everything depends on who gives the party.”
After his duties as butler were finished, Uncle Peter passed through the room bearing a large tray, and those who were facing him could not help noticing the appetizing and dainty meal set upon it on plates of old-fashioned blue and gold china. Billie caught a glimpse of half a broiled chicken and a small glass dish of jelly.
“It’s for the sick mother,” she thought, as she followed the others back into the living room, and it came to her with a throb that this boy and girl were probably denying themselves every luxury in life and working hard to look after their invalid mother. “I feel so worthless and no account when I think of those two,” she thought. “I have never had to give up anything in all my life so that some one else could have it.”