for tea. The six
little Bunkers, having changed into their old clothes, were running
about the yard, getting acquainted with the premises all over again.

"Now I guess we're all ready to sit down," said Mother Bunker, for, with
the help of Rose and Norah, the table had been set, tea made and a meal
gotten ready in quick time. Norah and Jerry had been told, by telegraph,
to come back to help get the house in order.

"I'm terrible glad you came, Grandpa Ford," said Mun Bun, as he sat
opposite the old gentleman at the table.

"So'm I," said Margy. "Are you going to live with us always?"

"Oh, no, little Toddlekins," laughed Grandpa Ford. "I wish I were. But I
shall soon have to go back to Great Hedge. Though I may not go back
alone."

"Is that a riddle?" asked Laddie eagerly.

"No, not exactly," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.

"I know another riddle," went on Laddie. "It's about how do the tickets
feel when the conductor punches them. But I never could find an answer."

"I don't believe there is any," said Grandpa Ford.

"Don't you know _any_ riddles?" asked Laddie.

"Well, I might think of _one_, if I tried real hard," said the old
gentleman. "Let me think, now. Here is one we used to ask one another
when I was a boy. See if you can guess it. 'A house full and a hole
full, but you can't catch a bowlful.' What is that, Laddie?"

"'A house full and a hole full, but you can't catch a bowlful,'"
repeated Laddie.

"Is it crabs?" asked Mun Bun. "I helped catch a basketful of crabs,
once."

"No, it isn't crabs," laughed Grandpa Ford.

"I give up. What is it?" asked Laddie, anxious to hear the answer.

"It's smoke!" said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "A house full and a hole
full of smoke, but, no matter how hard you try, you can't catch a
bowlful. For, if you try to catch smoke it just rolls away from you."

"A house full and a hole full--but you can't catch a bowlful," repeated
Laddie slowly. "That's a good riddle!" he announced, after thinking it
over, and I guess he ought to know, as he asked a great many of them.

They had a jolly time at the meal, even if it was gotten up in a hurry,
and then, just as the children were going out to play again, Daddy
Bunker remarked:

"You haven't yet told us, Father, what brought you away from Great
Hedge."

"No, I haven't, but I will," said Grandpa Ford.

Great Hedge, I might say, was the name of a large estate Grandpa Ford
had bought to live on not a great while be