"Those silly children," said Meg with her most grown-up air. "I suppose they think they sound funny."
Dot and Twaddles apparently did not care how they sounded, and they stayed in the kitchen, stirring and tasting, till Linda flatly declared that she'd put pepper in the pressed chicken instead of salt if they didn't stop bothering her. Jud came just at that moment and asked the twins to help him see if the new catch on the chicken yard gate worked all right, and the two little torments readily followed him.
Nearly everything was ready for the picnic by that night, and every one went to bed hoping for a clear day.
"The sun is shining, Meg! Meg, get up!" shouted Dot early the next morning. "We're going on a picnic!"
She made so much noise that she woke up Aunt Polly and Linda, as well as Bobby and Twaddles, and then, of course, there was nothing to do but to get up and have breakfast.
The four little Blossoms found Peter and Jud busy in the barn, putting clean straw in the bot-
