"Bravo!" cried Mother, coming in with a tray full of things. "This
is something like! I'll just get a tablecloth and then--"

The tablecloth was in a box with a proper lock that was opened with
a key and not with a shovel, and when the cloth was spread on the
table, a real feast was laid out on it.

Everyone was very, very tired, but everyone cheered up at the sight
of the funny and delightful supper. There were biscuits, the Marie
and the plain kind, sardines, preserved ginger, cooking raisins, and
candied peel and marmalade.

"What a good thing Aunt Emma packed up all the odds and ends out of
the Store cupboard," said Mother. "Now, Phil, DON'T put the
marmalade spoon in among the sardines."

"No, I won't, Mother," said Phyllis, and put it down among the Marie
biscuits.

"Let's drink Aunt Emma's health," said Roberta, suddenly; "what
should we have done if she hadn't packed up these things? Here's to
Aunt Emma!"

And the toast was drunk in ginger wine and water, out of willow-
patterned tea-cups, because the glasses couldn't be found.

They all felt that they had been a little hard on Aunt Emma. She
wasn't a nice cuddly person like Mother, but after all it was she
who had thought of packing up the odds and ends of things to eat.