We then proceeded to spread them on the centre table, and placed the knives and forks and glasses upon them. The sausages popped and frizzled, the rabbit shrank into tiny proportions, the onions filled the air with their odorous scent, and by-and-by the fry was considered done. When we had each been helped to a goodly portion, Von Marlo began to fry the potatoes, and these turned out to be more delicious than the rabbit and sausages. What a meal it was! How we laughed and joked and made merry! "Three cheers for father's absence!" shouted Alex, holding his glass high, as he prepared to pour the foaming contents down his throat. There came a knocking--a violent and furious knocking--in a part of the house which was not the front door. "It's Hannah! Hannah!" I cried. "She wants to come out. Oh Alex, we must let her out!" "Nothing of the sort," exclaimed Charley. "Let her knock until she's tired of knocking." The door was shaken violently. We heard a woman's voice calling and calling. "Charley, I must go," I said. "I cannot eat anything. Poor old Hannah! Oh, do let me open the door!" "When the feast is over we'll cook a little supper for her, and bring her in and set her down in front of the fire, and make her eat it," said Von Marlo. "Now, that will do, won't it? Sit down and eat your nice, hot supper," he continued, looking attentively at me with his honest brown eyes. I coloured and looked at him. It was so pleasant to have eyes glancing at you that did not disapprove of you all the time. Von Marlo drew a chair close to the table for me, and placed another near it for himself, and we ate heartily--yes, heartily--to the accompaniment of Hannah's knocks and shrieks and screams to us to let her out of her prison. By-and-by the meal came to an end, and then it was Von Marlo himself who went to the door. We three, we Grants, were sufficiently cowardly to remain in the parlour. By-and-by Von Marlo reappeared, leading Hannah. Hannah had been reduced to tears. He had her hand on his arm, and was conducting her into the parlour with all the grace with which he would conduct a duchess or any other person of title. "Here's your supper," he said. "Sit here; you must be very cold. Sit near the fire and eat, eat." She sat down, but she did not eat. "Come, come," he said, and he placed an appetising plate of food close to her. She went on sobbing, but her sobs were not quite so frequent. "It smells good, doesn't it?" said Von Marlo; and now he put a tender piece of rabbit on the end of a fork and held it within an inch of her mouth. "You will be much better after you have eaten," he said in a coaxing tone.