“Do you know how ice cream is made, May Nell?” Jimmy asked to break the oppression.
“No; will you tell me?”
“First they feed the cow a barrel of sugar, then they freeze her, after that milk her; and there you have your ice cream.”
May Nell looked incredulous. “And they feed her strawberries and vanilla beans and chocolate for flavors, I suppose; but how do you separate them when you milk? Will you show me the next time you fill that big bucket?” She nodded her head toward the freezer, and was so demure that not even Bess, still less Jimmy, knew whether she was deceived or poking fun.
May Nell was astonished at the country appetites, astonished at her own; yet the cream also disappeared; after which Bess, the magnificent, rose, waved her hand theatrically toward Mrs. Bennett, and declaimed,
“Here’s to our mothers,
Better than all others,
Whose feet never tire,
Whose hearts never—”
Just then mischief took possession of Harry Potter. He dropped a paper parcel behind Vilette, and a little green snake wriggled out and ran under the table. Vilette only grinned, but May Nell saw it, screamed and grew white.