"Oh, quite, Mrs. Carré," sparkled Miss Penny.
"I wass wondering if it would please you to dine all at once together again each night. You see, it would save me the trouble of setting twice. I did ask him and he said he didn't mind if you didn't. He iss a very nice quiet gentleman, I am sure."
"I'm sure it's very good of him," said Miss Penny. "By all means serve us all at once together, Mrs. Carré. I guess we can stand it if he can."
"That iss all right then," said Mrs. Carré, and the common evening meal became an institution--to Graeme's vast enjoyment.
When the girls went into their room after breakfast to put on their hats and scrambling shoes, they saw Graeme sitting on the low stone wall, as usual, smoking his after-breakfast pipe, and they caught a part of the conversation in progress between him and Johnny Vautrin.
"I see five crows 's mawnin'," they heard in Johnnie's sepulchral voice.
"Ah--five? That's an odd number! And what special ill-luck do you infer from five crows, Johnnie?"
"Someone's goan to be sick," said Johnnie, with joyous anticipation.
"Dear me! That's what five crows mean, is it?"
"They didn't go into particulars, I suppose,--as to who it is likely to be, for instance, and the exact nature of the seizure?"
"They flew over to church there and settled in black trees."
"Vicar, maybe, since they went that way."
"Well, well! Perhaps if we gave him a hint he might take some precautions."
"Couldn' tek nauthen 'd be any use 'gainst crows. Go'zamin, they knows!"
"You're just a confirmed old croaker, Johnnie."
"She's a-busy," said Johnnie, wriggling uncomfortably.
"Ah,--killing something, I presume. Is it going to keep fine for the next three or four weeks?"
"You might do your best for us, Johnnie," said Miss Penny, as they came through the gap in the wall. "And if it keeps fine all the time I'll give you--let me see, I'll give you a shilling when we go away."
Johnnie's avidious little claw reached out eagerly.
"Godzamin!" said he. "Gimme it now, an' I'll do my best."
"Earn it, my child," said Miss Penny, and they went on up the road, leaving Johnnie scowling in the hedge.
"Well, where would you like to go to-day?" asked Graeme. "Will you leave yourselves in my hands again?"