teak that would be well."

"Perhaps some eggs," murmured Mrs. Peterkin.

"Scrambled," cried one of the little boys.

"Fried potatoes would not be bad," suggested Agamemnon.

"Couldn't we have some onions?" asked the little boy who had stayed
at home, and had noticed the odor of onions when the others had their
supper.

"A pie would come in well," said Solomon John.

"And some stewed cherries," said the other little boy.

Martha fell to laying the table, and the family was much pleased, when,
in the course of time, all the dishes they had recommended appeared.
Their appetites were admirable, and they pronounced the food the same.

"This is true Arab hospitality," said Mr. Peterkin, as he cut his juicy
beefsteak.

"I know it," said Elizabeth Eliza, whose spirits began to rise. "We have
not even seen the host and hostess."

She would, indeed, have been glad to find some one to tell her when the
Sylvesters were expected, and why they had not arrived. Her room was in
the wing, far from that of Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin, and near the aged deaf
and foreign ladies, and she was kept awake for some time by perplexed
thoughts.

She was sure the lady from Philadelphia, under such circumstances, would
have written to somebody. But ought she to write to Ann Maria or the
Sylvesters? And, if she did write, which had she better write to? She
fully determined to write, the first thing in the morning, to both
parties. But how should she address her letters? Would there be any use
in sending to the Sylvesters' usual address, which she knew well by this
time, merely to say they had not come? Of course the Sylvesters would
know they had not come. It would be the same with Ann Maria.

She might, indeed, inclose her letters to their several postmasters.
Postmasters were always so obliging, and always knew where people were
going to, and where to send their letters. She might, at least, write
two letters, to say that they--the Peterkins--had arrived, and were
disappointed not to find the Sylvesters. And she could add that their
trunks had not arrived, and perhaps their friends might look out for
them on their way. It really seemed a good plan to write. Yet
another question came up, as to how she would get her letters to the
post-office, as she had already learned it was at quite a distance, and
in a different direction from the station, where they were to send the
next day for their trunks.

She went over and over these same questio