“Mama’s asleep in there,” she whispered hoarsely, pointing to a nearby lower window of the house, “so we mustn’t make any noise. Let’s go over to the summer-house.”
“Let’s take a walk,” said Tad as May joined them. “The summer-house is too near, and Rod’s such a noisy fellow he might wake your mother up.”
Matty observed her sister doubtfully. “Do you think she’d mind?” she asked.
“I don’t believe so. Not if we told Norah we were going and didn’t stay very long. I’d love to go. We’ve been just bored to death ever since dinner, haven’t we, Matty?”
“Bored stiff,” responded Matty inelegantly and emphatically. “You run and tell Norah, May, please.”
A few minutes later they made their escape through the narrow gate and turned northward along Hill Street.
“You see,” confided May, “it was the dumplings.”
“What was the dumplings?” asked Rodney, perplexed.
“That made us bored. They always do. We’re very fond of them, and Norah gives them to us for Sunday dinner quite often. But she oughtn’t to, because they make us feel very bored.”
“Bored is a new name for it!” laughed Tad. “_I’d_ call it indigestion!”
“Oh, but it really isn’t! At least, I don’t think it is. Do you, Matty?”
The blue-eyed twin gazed doubtfully into the distance and laid an inquiring hand on the front of her white gown. “I――I don’t know, May. It might be. I think――I think I did feel sort of queer inside after the third dumpling.”
“After the third!” exclaimed Tad. “Great Scott, how many did you eat?”
Matty turned surprised eyes to him. “Why, I ate four, and May ate――how many did you eat, May?”
“Only three to-day,” was the virtuous reply. “Sometimes I eat five. They’re rather small dumplings, Tad. But to-day I――I began to feel bored quite soon.”
“I should think so! I’d be ‘bored’ after two of the things, I guess,” said Tad with a grin. “I think a walk is just what you girls need.”
“I suppose dumplings are a little indigestible,” acknowledged Matty. “But they’re awfully good. Norah puts lots of cinnamon in with the apple and we have just heaps of hard sauce. I think, May, that there were several left over. They’d be nice cold for supper, wouldn’t they?”
“Talk about a boy’s appetite!” said Tad despairingly. “Gee, we don’t know anything about stuffing ourselves, do we, Rod?”