"Yes, it's me," was the reply.
Sure enough, it was Andy Morse, the boy who stoned the kitten.
"Why, what do you want here?" asked Teddy, all her fear vanishing at sight of this well-known face. "I am so glad it is you, for, do you know, I was really afraid it was somebody come to steal something. What have you come for, and why did you come in such a queer way in the middle of the night?"
The boy shuffled his feet, and looked away from her.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" she continued.
"Yes," said he, in a hoarse whisper; "I'm awful hungry."
"Oh, are you? Well, just wait here, and I'll get you something to eat. Or perhaps you had better come with me, for my aunts don't like to have eating in the parlor. You might drop the crumbs, you know. I often do. We'll go out to the kitchen; but first I must find some matches."
"Here's one," said Morse, diving into his pocket.
He followed her through the door into the back hall. She could not reach the gas-burner, so he lighted it for her both there and in the kitchen. She went to the bread-box and took out a loaf of Catharine's delicious Graham-bread, and then she went to the refrigerator in the hall and procured some butter. A pitcher of milk and some cold mutton were also within reach. These she brought and placed upon the kitchen table, inviting her guest at the same time to draw up a chair. Then, having supplied him with a knife and fork, and some cookies which she found in the store-room, she sat down at the table herself.
"I am hungry too," she remarked, affably. "I have been up all night, and I went after the doctor on a bicycle. It makes you awfully hungry to do so much in the night."