Margy. "Are you going to live with us always?"
"Oh, no, little Toddlekins," laughed Grandpa Ford. "I wish I were. But
I shall soon have to go back to Great Hedge. Though I may not go back
alone."
"Is that a riddle?" asked Laddie eagerly.
"No, not exactly," said Grandpa Ford with a laugh.
"I know another riddle," went on Laddie. "It's about how do the tickets
feel when the conductor punches them. But I never could find an
answer."
"I don't believe there is any," said Grandpa Ford.
"Don't you know any riddles?" asked Laddie.
"Well, I might think of one, if I tried real hard," said the old gentleman.
"Let me think, now. Here is one we used to ask one another when I was
a boy. See if you can guess it. 'A house full and a hole full, but you
can't catch a bowlful.' What is that, Laddie?"
"'A house full and a hole full, but you can't catch a bowlful,'" repeated
Laddie.
"Is it crabs?" asked Mun Bun. "I helped catch a basketful of crabs,
once."
"No, it isn't crabs," laughed Grandpa Ford.
"I give up. What is it?" asked Laddie, anxious to hear the answer.
"It's smoke!" said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "A house full and a hole
full of smoke, but, no matter how hard you try, you can't catch a
bowlful. For, if you try to catch smoke it just rolls away from you."
"A house full and a hole full--but you can't catch a bowlful," repeated
Laddie slowly. "That's a good riddle!" he announced, after thinking it
over, and I guess he ought to know, as he asked a great many of them.
They had a jolly time at the meal, even if it was gotten up in a hurry,
and then, just as the children were going out to play again, Daddy
Bunker remarked:
"You haven't yet told us, Father, what brought you away from Great
Hedge."
"No, I haven't, but I will," said Grandpa Ford.
Great Hedge, I might say, was the name of a large estate Grandpa Ford
had bought to live on not a great while before. It was just outside the
city of Tarrington, in New York State, and was a fine, big country
estate.
Grandpa Ford looked around the room. He saw Russ and Rose over by
the sideboard, each taking a cookie to eat out in the yard. The other
little Bunkers had already run out, for it was not yet dark.
"As soon as they go I'll tell you why I came away from Great Hedge,"
said Grandpa Ford in a low voice to Mr. and Mrs. Bunker. "It's
something of a mystery, and I don't want the children to become
frightened, especially as they may go up there," he went on. "I'll tell
you when they go out."
CHAPTER III
SOMETHING QUEER
Russ Bunker took a cookie from the dish on the sideboard, handed one
to Rose, and then the two children went out on the porch. Rose was just
going to run along to find Vi, who had taken her Japanese doll to play
with, when Russ caught his sister by her dress.
"Wait a minute, Rose."
"What for?" she asked.
"Hush!" went on Russ. "Not so loud. Didn't you hear what Grandpa
Ford said?"
"I didn't listen," admitted Rose. "I wanted to see if there were any
molasses cookies, but they're all sugar. What was it?" and Rose, too,
talked very low.
They were now out on the side porch, under the dining-room windows,
which were open, for, as I have said, it was warm October weather.
"He said there was something queer about Great Hedge, where he lives
with Grandma," went on Russ. "He didn't want us to hear, 'cause I
heard him tell Daddy and Mother so. But we can hear out here if we
listen. Let's keep still, and maybe we can tell what it is."
"But that won't be nice," protested Rose. "Mother said we shouldn't
peep through keyholes, or listen behind doors."
"There isn't any keyhole here," said Russ. "And we're not behind a door,
either."
"Well, but----" But Rose could think of nothing else to say. Besides,
just then, she heard her grandfather's voice. He was speaking to Mr.
and Mrs. Bunker, and saying:
"Yes, it certainly is very strange. It's quite a puzzle to me--a riddle, I
suppose Laddie would call it. But I don't want the children to know
anything about it."
"There, you see!" exclaimed Russ in a whisper. "It's only a riddle he is
going to tell. We can listen to it, and have some fun. We won't tell what
the answer is when he asks us. We'll make believe we don't know."
"Well, if it's only a riddle, I guess it's
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