WHITEOAK HERITAGE

20Whiteoak Heritage“Just the same old Eliza!” he exclaimed, patting her shoulder.“That’s right,” said his grandmother. “Tell her she is just the same.She’s got the notion that she’s worn out with working for us and needsto retire. It’s nonsense.”Eliza smiled palely and handed the old lady’s stick to her. The entiregroup moved toward the dining room where the one o’clock dinner waslaid, the dogs jostling each other alongside. A tawny cat belonging toErnest glided down the stairs to a convenient height and from therejumped to his shoulder, arching herself and beginning to purr in anticipationof the meal.Old Adeline, in the heart of the group, declared:“I’m starving. It’s not right for a woman of my age to wait so longfor her food.”“It is very bad for you, Mamma,” said Ernest. “It simply means that,when you do get food, you will eat too much and eating too much producesflatulence which is dangerous.”She stared impatiently into his face as he made his pronouncement,then exclaimed:“I’ve had wind on the stomach for twenty years. It doesn’t harm me.I’m like an old sailing ship. Wind moves me!” Chuckling, she shuffled inher woollen slippers toward the agreeable odour of roast chicken thatcame from the dining room.“Look here,” said Renny, “give me time to wash my hands. I’ll justbe a moment!”He sprang up the stairs and went to his old room.“You’ll find hot water waiting there,” called Meg after him.“And do make haste,” added his Uncle Ernest. “My mother is faintfor food.”“I’ll be down in a jiffy,” returned Renny.“How wonderful it is to see him running up the stairs again,” saidMeg. “Oh, I shall be so glad to have him home; there’ll be someone tolean on.”“More likely someone to order you about,” said Eden.“I heard him say,” put in Piers, “that he had only a roll and coffee onthe train. He’ll be hungry.”