They all laughed. The pie had certainly been rather peculiar. No one knew quite what had happened to it, but after sampling it, the family had fallen back on bread and jam. The pie had gone to Horrors, who had eaten it all at a sitting, with the nearest approach to happiness they had yet seen in him; and had afterwards become, as might have been expected, extremely unwell, his complexion for the rest of the day being a delicate green.
"The pie was an accident, but there's nothing accidental about those scones," said Tom, as the scones, light and puffy, emerged from the oven. "Tea is ready, and I'm hungry enough to eat the lot. Sick boys, of course, aren't allowed more than one, are they?"
Garth uttered a howl of protest.
"I'm not sick!"
He did not look sick now. Even a week of Gippsland air had put colour into his cheeks and brushed away the tired lines from his eyes. He was no longer a city boy. No snow-white collar encircled his neck; his good suits were packed away, and he lived in blue jerseys and extremely brief knickerbockers, beneath which his brown knees were scratched and bruised. From daylight until dark he was in the open air, exploring the country that was so new and so delightful. There were still traces of delicacy from his illness; but already, watching the light in his eyes and the spring in his step, the father and mother knew that the great sacrifice had been worth while.
"He ate two of my tarts yesterday; and as no ill effects followed I'm beginning to think that nothing could hurt him," Aileen said. "It's difficult to think that only a fortnight ago we were tempting him with delicate strips of toast!"
"They wouldn't be much good to me now," Garth uttered, accepting a large buttered scone with thankfulness. "This is the hungriest place I ever was in: and your scones are scrummy, Mother!"
"Hear, hear!" said Tom, and took another.
"You're such satisfactory people to cook for," Aileen said, "you like everything that is at all possible, and when it isn't—like the pie—you make a beautiful joke of it."
"Well, it was a beautiful joke—you ask Horrors!" said Tom, chuckling.