Barbara sat down and plied Susan with questions. How was Miss Somers dressed? Were the sisters dressed alike? What were they having for dinner at the Abbey? Above all, what could Miss Somers mean by saying she would call at Farmer Price's cottage at six o'clock that evening? "What do you think she could mean?" asked Barbara.
"What she said," replied Susan, "that she would be here at six o'clock."
"That's plain enough," said Barbara, "but what else do you think she meant? People, you know, often mean more or less than they say."
"They do," answered Susan, with a smile that made Barbara guess of whom she was thinking.
But Bab did not mean Susan to know that she guessed, so she said, "I suppose you think that Miss Somers meant more than she said?"
"I was not thinking of Miss Somers when I said what I did," replied Susan.
There was a pause, and then Bab remarked, "How nice the soup looks!"
Susan had poured it into a basin, and as she dropped over it the bright yellow marigold, it looked very tempting. She tasted it and added a little salt; tasted it again, and added a little more. Then she thought it was just as her mother liked it.
"Oh, I must taste it!" said Bab, seizing the basin greedily.
"Won't you take a spoon?" said Susan, trembling as she saw the big mouthfuls Barbara took with a loud noise.