"but I'm afraid she won't. My father can't leave
for his vacation until July, and then we're all going away together, but
I don't know where."

Just then Elise came flying out to them, with the announcement that
supper was ready, and they were to come right in, quick.

The table was spread in the large room which Patty had thought was the
kitchen.

It probably had been built for that purpose, but other kitchens had been
added beyond it, and for the last half century it had been used as a
dining-room.

The table was drawn out to its full length, which made it very long
indeed, and it was filled with what seemed to Patty viands enough to feed
an army. At one end was a young pig roasted whole, with a lemon in his
mouth, and a design in cloves stuck into his fat little side. At the
other end was a baked ham whose crisp golden-brown crust could only be
attained by the old cook who had been in the Bender family for many
years.

Up and down the length of the table on either side was a succession of
various cold meats, alternating with pickles, jellies and savories of
various sorts.

After the guests were seated, Nancy brought in platters of smoking-hot
biscuits from the kitchen, and Miss Aurora herself made the tea.

The furnishings of the table were of old blue and white china of great
age and priceless value. The old family silver too was a marvel in
itself, and the tea service which Miss Bender manipulated with some pride
was over a hundred years old.

Patty was greatly impressed at this unusual scene, but when the plates
were removed after the first course, and the busy maid-servants prepared
to serve the dessert, she was highly entertained.

For the next course, though consisting only of preserves and cake, was
served in an unusual manner. The preserves included every variety known
to housewives and a few more. In addition to this, Miss Aurora announced
in a voice which was calm with repressed satisfaction, that she had
fourteen kinds of cake to put at the disposal of her guests. None of
these sorts could be mixed with any other sort, and the result was
fourteen separate baskets and platters of cake.

The table became crowded before they had all been brought in from the
kitchen, and quite as a matter of course, the serving maids placed the
later supplies on chairs, which they stood behind the guests, and the
ladies amiably turned round in their seats, inspected the cake, partook
of it if they desired, and gra