It wasn't more than ten minutes by the clock, when in rushed the two boys and swarmed around the big table.
"Well, I declare," cried Alexia, looking up admiringly from a receipt book which Mrs. Fisher had loaned them, and over which the heads of the two girls were bent, "if you boys haven't been quick, though!"
"Haven't we?" cried Jasper, and his eyes twinkled.
"Don't tell," whispered Pickering over his shoulder.
"And what are you two whispering about?" cried Alexia, deserting the cook-book: "Now, tell us," she demanded, dreadfully afraid she would miss some news.
"Well, you see—" began Jasper.
"Hush—hush!" said Pickering.
"Now don't pay any attention to Pickering," said Alexia, turning a cold shoulder to the last-mentioned individual; "do tell us, Jasper, what is it?"
"The fact is," said Jasper, laughing, "I didn't have to go for Pickering at all; that is, only to the corner. He was coming here."
"And Jasper nearly knocked the breath out of me," finished Pickering, "he bolted into me so."