"And please try my fried potatoes as a further demonstration!" said Bell. "Margaret, you are not eating anything."
"She never does!" said Peggy.
"Oh!" cried Margaret, "but I never ate so much before. Oh, please not!" as Phil tried to heap her plate with potatoes. "They are delicious, but I really cannot!"
"I can!" said Gertrude, holding out her plate.
"I'll warrant you!" said Phil. "No one doubted that, sweet Chuck!"
"We do not look for the Camp Appetite till after twenty-four hours," said Mrs. Merryweather. "Give Margaret time! in two days she will eat twice as much as she does now."
"Harry Monmouth!" exclaimed the Colonel. "At that rate, it is fortunate for you all that I do not outstay my two days. Twice as much as I am eating now would clear your larder, dear madam. Yes, thanks, Merryweather, a little more!"
"Oh, Colonel Ferrers!"
"Oh, Uncle Tom! you are not going away in two days? We counted on a week at least!" cried all in chorus.
"Impossible, dear people, impossible! Like nothing better; enchanted to stay all summer; delightful place. But—Elizabeth Beadle's condition, you understand; and the boy—I must get back. He is too young to have the responsibility. Most amazing boy in the world; I haven't the slightest doubt that he is doing her more good than all the doctors in the world—parcel of fools, mostly—but still he is too young; I must get back."