"And what have you got for their supper?"
"Only some potatoes, please you, sir; but they be nicely boiled, and here come the hungry boys! They are coming in from their work, and they will soon make an end of them, I warrant."
As she said these words in came John, and William, and Thomas, all with rosy cheeks and smiling faces. They sat down—one on a wooden stool, one on a broken chair, and one on the corner of the table—and they all began to eat the potatoes very heartily.
But Alfred's father said:
"Stop, my good boys; do not eat any more, but come with me."
The boys stared, but their mother told them to do as they were bid, so they left off eating and followed the gentleman.
Alfred and his father walked on till they arrived once more under the cedar-tree in the garden, and there was the fine feast all standing just as they had left it, for Alfred's cousins were gone away, and his mother would not have the dinner taken away, because she hoped that Alfred would come back to it.
"Now, boys," said the gentleman, "you may all sit down to this table and eat whatever you like."