"I can talk all right," mumbled Roger.
"But we can't hear you all right," retorted Helen.
"Oh, come, you like cookies as well as I do," remonstrated her brother, taking in the last crumb.
"Certainly I do, and Ethel Brown's are the best ever, but I eat mine in sections."
"So do I—two sections," grinned Roger. "There, now I'm sufficiently refreshed to tell you the news. I suppose you poor creatures didn't realize there was any news, eh?"
"By a strenuous use of our wits we gathered that there was something in the air when we saw you approach," murmured Helen, who sometimes found Roger trying.
"List, then, beloved members of my family——"
"Hark to the troubadour," mocked Ethel Blue.
"Now, child, if you interrupt your uncle Roger you won't ever learn this thrilling piece of information that is about to fall from my ruby lips."
"Chirp on, then, ornithological specimen."