Meg flushed a little, feeling that hospitality demanded that they should share the remaining eggs with such a companion, and she was afraid there would be very few to offer when Ben was taken into consideration.
"We went to a quiet place on the Wooded Island," she said, "and ate it with the roses. We pretended they invited us. We had only hard-boiled eggs and a sandwich each; but a kind woman gave us something of her own."
"We brought the eggs from home," explained Rob.
"We have some chickens of our own who laid them. We thought that would be cheaper than buying things."
"Oh!" said John Holt. "So you've been living on hard-boiled eggs. Got any left?"
"A few," Meg answered. "They're in the satchel. We shall have to go and get it."
"Come along then," said John Holt. "Pretty hungry by this time, aren't you?"
"Yes," said Meg, with heartfelt frankness. "We are!"
It was astonishing how much John Holt had found out about them during this one morning. They did not know themselves how much their answers to his occasional questions had told him. He had not known himself when he asked the questions, how much their
