DINNER

"Kitty-Cat Kitty is going away,
Going to Grandma's, all summer to stay.
And so all the Maynards will weep and will bawl,
Till Kitty-Cat Kitty comes home in the fall."

This affecting ditty was being sung with great gusto by King and
Marjorie, while Kitty, her mood divided between smiles and tears, was
quietly appreciative.

The very next day, Kitty was to start for Morristown, to spend the
summer with Grandma Sherwood, and to-night the "Farewell Feast" was to
be celebrated.

Every year one of the Maynard children spent the summer months with
their grandmother, and this year it was Kitty's turn. The visit was
always a pleasant one, and greatly enjoyed by the small visitor, but
there was always a wrench at parting, for the Maynard family were
affectionate and deeply devoted to one another.

The night before the departure was always celebrated by a festival of
farewell, and at this feast tokens were presented, and speeches made,
and songs sung, all of which went far to dispel sad or gloomy feelings.

The Maynards were fond of singing. They were willing to sing
"ready-made" songs, and often did, but they liked better to make up
songs of their own, sometimes using familiar tunes and sometimes
inventing an air as they went along. Even if not quite in keeping with
the rules for classic music, these airs were pleasing in their own ears,
and that was all that was necessary.

So, when King and Midget composed the touching lines which head this
chapter and sang them to the tune of "The Campbells are Coming," they
were so pleased that they repeated them many times.

This served to pass pleasantly the half-hour that must yet elapse before
dinner would be announced.

"Well, Kit," remarked Kingdon, in a breathing pause between songs,
"we'll miss you lots, o' course, but you'll have a gay old time at
Grandma's. That Molly Moss is a whole team in herself."

"She's heaps of fun, Kitsie," said Marjorie, "but she's chock-a-block
full of mischief. But you won't tumble head over heels into all her
mischiefs, like I did! 'Member how I sprained my ankle, sliding down the
barn roof with her?"

"No, of course I wouldn't do anything like that," agreed the sedate
Kitty. "But we'll have lots of fun with that tree-house; I'm going to
sit up there and read, on pleasant days."

"H'm,--lucky,--you know what, King!"

"H'm,--yes! Keep still, Mops. You'll give it away."

"Oh, a secret about a present," cried Ki