"Or maybe it's just old age sneaking up on her!" Louise added with a teasing laugh.

Reaching the Parker home, Penny ran inside to tell Mrs. Weems, the housekeeper, that she was taking Rhoda to the trailer camp. Returning a moment later, she backed the maroon car from the garage with dazzling skill and further exhibited her prowess as a driver.

"Penny always handles an automobile as if she were enroute to a three-alarm fire!" Louise a.s.sured Rhoda. "A reporter at the _Star_ taught her how to drive."

Presently, the car arrived at the Dorset Tourist Camp, rolling through an archway entrance into a tree-shaded area.

"Our trailer is parked over at the north side," Rhoda said, pointing to a vehicle with faded brown paint.

Penny stopped the car beneath a large maple tree. Immediately three small children who had been playing close by, rushed up to greet Rhoda. Their hands and faces were very dirty, frocks unpressed and torn, and their hair appeared never to have made contact with comb or brush.

"Are these the Breen youngsters?" inquired Louise.

"Yes," Rhoda answered, offering no apology for the way the children looked. "This is Betty, who is seven. Bobby is five, and Jean is our baby."

Penny and Louise had no intention of remaining at the camp, but before they could drive away, Mrs. Breen stepped from the trailer. She came at once to the car, and Rhoda introduced her.

"I've always told Rhoda to bring her friends out here, but she never would do it," the woman declared heartily. "Come inside and see our trailer."

"We really should be going," Penny demurred. "I told our housekeeper I'd be right back."

"It will only take a minute," Mrs. Breen urged. "I want you to meet my husband--and there's Ted."

The woman had caught a glimpse of a tall young man as he moved hastily around the back side of the trailer.

"Oh, Ted!" she called shrilly. "Come here and meet Rhoda's friends!"

"Don't bother about it, Mrs. Breen," Rhoda said in embarra.s.sment.

"Please."

"Nonsense!" the woman replied, and called again. "Ted! Come here, I say!"

With obvious reluctance, the young man approached the automobile. He was tall and slim with many of Rhoda's facial features. Penny felt certain that she had seen him before, yet for a minute she could not think where.

"How are you?" the young man responded briefly as he was presented to the two girls.

"Ted found a little work to do today," Mrs. Breen resumed proudly. "Just a few minutes ago he brought home a nice plump chicken. We're having it for dinner!"

Ted gazed over the woman's head, straight at his sister. Seeing the look which pa.s.sed between them, Penny suddenly knew where she had seen the young man. Mrs. Breen's remark had given her the required clue.

Unquestionably, Ted Wiegand was the one who had stolen the chicken from the old stonecutter!

CHAPTER 3 _CHICKEN DINNER_

The discovery that Rhoda's brother had stolen food was disconcerting to Penny. Saying good-bye to Mrs. Breen, she prepared to drive away from the trailer camp.

"Oh, you can't go so soon," the woman protested. "You must stay for dinner. We're having chicken and there's plenty for everybody!"

"Really we can't remain," Penny declined. "Louise and I both are expected at home."

"You're just afraid you'll put me to a little trouble," Mrs. Breen laughed, swinging open the car door and tugging at Penny's hand. "You have to stay."

Taking a cue from their mother, the three young children surrounded the girls, fairly forcing them toward the trailer. Ted immediately started in the opposite direction.

"You come back here, Ted Wiegand!" Mrs. Breen called in a loud voice.

"I don't want any dinner, Mom."

"I know better," Mrs. Breen contradicted cheerfully. "You're just bashful because we're having two pretty girls visit us. You stay and eat your victuals like you always do, or I'll box your ears."

"Okay," Ted agreed, glancing at Rhoda again. "It's no use arguing with you, Mom."

Neither Penny nor Louise wished to remain for dinner, yet they knew of no way to avoid it without offending Mrs. Breen. Briskly the woman herded them inside the trailer.

"It's nice, isn't it?" she asked proudly. "We have a little refrigerator and a good stove and a sink. We're a bit crowded, but that only makes it more jolly."

A man in shirt sleeves lay on one of the day beds, reading a newspaper.

"Meet my husband," Mrs. Breen said as an afterthought. "Get up, Pop!" she ordered. "Don't you have any manners?"

The man amiably swung his feet to the floor, grinning at Penny and Louise.

"I ain't been very well lately," he said, as if feeling that the situation required an explanation. "The Doc tells me to take it easy."

"That was twenty years ago," Mrs. Breen contributed, an edge to her voice. "Pop's been resting ever since. But we get along."

Rhoda and Ted, who had followed the others into the trailer, were acutely embarra.s.sed by the remark. Penny hastily changed the subject to a less personal one by pretending to show an interest in a book which lay on the table.

"Oh, that belongs to Rhoda," Mrs. Breen responded carelessly. "She brought it from the library. Ted and Rhoda always have their noses in a book. They're my adopted children, you know."

"Mr. and Mrs. Breen have been very kind to us," Rhoda said quietly.

"Stuff and nonsense!" Mrs. Breen retorted. "You've more than earned your keep. Well, if you'll excuse me now, I'll dish up dinner."

Penny and Louise wondered how so many persons could be fed in such a small s.p.a.ce, especially as the dinette table accommodated only six. Mrs.

Breen solved the problem by giving each of the three small children a plate of food and sending them outdoors.

"Now we can eat in peace," she remarked, squeezing her ample body beneath the edge of the low, anch.o.r.ed table. "It's a little crowded, but we can all get in here."

"I'll take my plate outside," Ted offered.

"No, you stay right here," Mrs. Breen reproved. "I never did see such a bashful boy! Isn't he the limit?"

Having arranged everything to her satisfaction, she began to dish up generous helpings of chicken and potato. The food had an appetizing odor and looked well cooked, but save for a pot of tea, there was nothing else.

"We're having quite a banquet tonight," Pop Breen remarked appreciatively. "I'll take a drumstick, Ma, if there ain't no one else wantin' it."