"Pies!" said the young gentleman, as Mrs. Evelyn left talking, to indulge her feelings in ecstatic quiet laughing "I have a horror of pies!"
"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Evelyn, nodding her head delightedly, as she drew him towards the pantry "I know! Come and see what is in store for you. You are to do penance for a month to come with tin pans of blackberry jam, fringed with pie crust no, they can't be blackberries, they must be raspberries, the blackberries are not ripe yet. And you may sup upon cake and custards, unless you give the custards for the little pig out there, he will want something."
"A pig!" said Mr. Olmney, in amaze Mrs. Evelyn again giving out in distress. "A pig!" said Mr. Olmney.
"Yes, a pig a very little one," said Mrs. Evelyn, convulsively. "I am sure he is hungry now."
They had reached the pantry, and Mr. Olmney's face was all that was wanting to Mrs. Evelyn's delight. How she smothered it, so that it should go no further than to distress his self- command, is a mystery known only to the initiated. Mrs. Douglass was forthwith called into council.
"Mrs. Douglass," said Mr. Olmney, "I feel very much inclined to play the host, and beg my friends to share with me some of these good things they have been so bountifully providing."
"He would enjoy them much more than he would alone, Mrs.
Douglass," said Mrs. Evelyn, who still had hold of Mr.
Olmney's arm, looking round to the lady with a most benign
face.
"I reckon some of 'em would be past enjoying by the time he got to 'em, wouldn't they?" said the lady. "Well, they'll have to take 'em in their fingers, for our crockery ha'n't come yet I shall have to jog Mr. Flatt's elbow; but hungry folks aint curious."
"In their fingers, or any way, provided you have only a knife to cut them with," said Mr. Olmney, while Mrs. Evelyn squeezed his arm in secret mischief; "and pray, if we can muster two knives, let us cut one of these cheeses, Mrs. Douglass."
And presently Fleda saw pieces of pie walking about in all directions, supported by pieces of cheese. And then Mrs. Evelyn and Mr. Olmney came out from the pantry and came towards her, the latter bringing her, with his own hands, a portion in a tin pan. The two ladies sat down in the window together to eat and be amused.