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that."
    He went out, whistling. Stinker growled, and Edgar repeated loudly what he had said beIore: "Good riddance to bad rubbish!"
    "What did you say?" said Julian, suddenly poking his head in at the kitchen door again.
    But Edgar did not dare to repeat it, so off went Julian again, whistling merrily, but not feeling nearly as merry as his whistle. He was worried. After all, if Mrs. Stick was going to make meals as difficult as this, life was not going to be very pleasant at Kirrin Cottage.
    "Anyone feel inclined to have dry bread and jam for lunch?" inquired Julian, when he returned to the others. "Not? I rather thought so, so I turned down Mrs. Stick's kind offer. I vote we go and buy something decent. That shop in the village has good sausage-rolls."
    George was very silent all that day. She was worrying about her mother, the others knew. She was probably thinking about her plan too, they thought, and wondered whatever it could be.
    "Shall we go over to Kirrin Island today?" asked Julian, thinking that it would take George's mind off her worries, if they went to her beloved island.
    George shook her head.
    "NoI she said. "I don't feel like it. The boat's all ready, I know—but I just don't feel like it. You-see, till I know Mother is going to get better, I don't feel I want to be out of reach of the house. If a telephone message came from Father; the Sticks could always send Edgar to look for me—and if I was on the island, he couldn't find me."
    The children messed about that day, doing nothing at all. They went back to tea, and Mrs. Stick provided them with bread and butter and jam, but no cake. The milk was sour too, and everyone-had to have tea without milk, which they all disliked.
    As they ate their tea, the children heard Edgar outside the window. He held a tin bowl in his hand, and put it down on the grass outside.
    "Your dog's dinner," he yelled.
    "He looks like a dog's dinner himself," said Dick, in disgust. "Messy creature!"
    That made everyone laugh. "Edgar, the Dog's Dinner!" said Anne. "Any biscuits in that tin on the sideboard, do you think, George?"

    George got up to see. Timothy slipped out of doors and went to the dish put down for.him. He sniffed at it. George, coming back from the sideboard, looked out of the window as she passed and saw him. At once the thought of poison came back to her mind and she yelled to Timothy, making the others jump out of their skins.
    TIM! TIM! Don't touch it!"
    Timothy wagged his tail as if to say he didn't mean to touch it, anyway. George rushed out of doors, and picked up the mess of raw meat. She sniffed at it.
    "You haven't touched it, have you, Timothy?" she said, anxiously.
    Dick leaned out of the window.
    . "No, he didn't eat any. I watched him. He sniffed all round and about it, but he wouldn't touch it. I bet it's been dosed with rat-poison or something."
    George was very white. "Oh Timmy!" she said. "You're such a sensible dog. You wouldn't touch poisoned stuff, would you?"
    "Woof!" said Timmy, decidedly. Stinker heard the bark and put his nose out of the kitchen door.
    George called to him in a loud voice:
    "Stinker, Stinker, come here! Timmy doesn't want his dinner. You can have it. Come along, Stinker, here it is!"
    Edgar came rushing out behind Stinker. "Don't you give that to him," he said.
    "Why not?" asked George. "Go on, Edgar—tell me why not."
    "He don't eat raw meat," said Edgar, after a pause. "He only eats dog biscuits."
    "That's a lie!" said George, flaming up. "I saw him eating meat yesterday. Here, Stinker — you come and eat this."
    Edgar snatched the bowl from George, almost snarling at her, and ran indoors at top speed. George was about to go after him, but Julian, who had jumped out of the window when Edgar came up, stopped her.
    "No good, old thing!" he said. "You won't get anything out of him. The meat's probably at the back of the kitchen fire by now. From now on, we feed Timothy ourselves with meat bought from the butcher with our own