“Mother and Aunt Ally will be on the front piazza or in the library. We’ll climb up on the balcony under the dining-room windows and get through that room to the pantry. There’s a back stairs in the butler’s pantry for the help to use. We can get to the third floor that way without being seen or having to go to the front at all,” explained George. “Good! You scout about first while we wait under the lilac bushes,” whispered John, pushing George into the open. Soon the anxious watchers saw George scramble over the railing of the low balcony and carefully open the outside shutters that were generally kept closed when the dining-room was unoccupied. Then he disappeared through the open window, and shortly after reappeared to beckon his friends to follow him. One at a time, Indian fashion, they rushed over the grass and climbed the balcony. When all but Jim were inside the room, they breathed easier, but Jim’s bowed legs could not scramble up and over the rail as agilely as the others had and they had to venture out again to haul him up and over by his arms. Once safely sheltered by the darkened dining-room, they tiptoed toward the pantry. The swing door was hardly still upon the five figures that passed through, when ladies’ voices were heard as Mrs. Parke and Mrs. Davis came from the library to go out on the veranda and see where the children were. In the pantry, on the table, stood a plate filled with iced cookies for afternoon tea. Chopped walnuts were thickly sprinkled on the icing and most tempting did the cakes smell. Naturally the children could not pass by without a sniff and that was their undoing. “My, but I’m hungry after that trip from Washington!” sighed Jack, eying the cakes. “We all are, I reckon! May as well carry these cookies with us as to wait to eat them later,” suggested George, looking to Martha for approval of the plan. “May as well! Carry dish and all to the attic—it will save Mary the work of washing extra plates,” came from thoughtful Martha, but had Mary been present she would have scorned the helpful suggestion. Quick as a flash, therefore, George and the dish disappeared up the back stairway followed by his four devoted friends. Safely harbored in the large attic room, the hungry children sat and ate the delicious cakes, till but two—the very smallest and scorched ones—remained on the plate for the two ladies. “They’ll want some with their tea,” suggested Martha generously, picking a large piece of walnut from the one she determined for her mother. “But they are not fond of sweets like we are,” hinted Anne, wistfully smacking her lips. “We’ve each had four—all but Jim; he had that broken half and three!” declared John manfully. “And we must not overeat cakes—there will be bread and jam with tea, you know,” cautioned George. “Set the dish outside the door and that will end the thing!” said Anne sensibly, as she picked up the plate and did as she suggested.