Flossie looked at the damage she had done and then her lips began to quiver, her eyes filled with tears, and a moment later she burst out crying.
“Oh, don’t tell mother!” she begged. “Don’t tell mother! I didn’t mean to break the plate! I wanted to help!”
“Don’t cry, my dear,” said Aunt Sallie kindly. “Of course you didn’t mean to do it. It’s all right. I guess it was only an old plate.”
“The bread didn’t bust, anyhow,” observed Freddie. “I can pick that up and we can eat it!”
“Freddie Bobbsey, you stay right in your chair!” cried Nan. “Something else will happen if you get down. And, Flossie, never mind. You can help with something else. Go to your chair and we’ll eat.”
Bert picked up the pieces of plate while Nan gathered up the bread. Luckily the slices had fallen in the same sort of pile that Mrs. Pry had put them in on the plate, and only the bottom slice had to be laid aside because there might be dirt on it from the rug.
“I’ll feed that to the birds to-morrow,” said Bert, as he laid this slice aside.
Flossie stopped her crying and soon supper was going on merrily—that is, as merrily as was possible when the Bobbsey twins were without father, mother, Dinah and Sam.
Mrs. Pry did her best, and though she misunderstood a number of things that were said, on account of not hearing well, the children did not laugh at her. They felt sorry for the old lady.
Nan helped clear away the supper dishes, with Bert lending a hand now and then. Flossie and Freddie, forgetting all about their little dispute, played together until it was time for them to go to bed.