Mr. and Mrs. Bunker sat together now, near Grandpa Ford, and they talked
together in low voices. Russ was too busy with his string and sticks to
listen, though, if he had, he might have heard something more about the
queer secret.

As for Rose, who shared part of the secret with him, she was taking
Margy and Mun Bun to get a drink.

"Ladies first," said Rose to her little brother, when he would have
reached for the cup she filled. "Ladies first, Mun Bun. Let Margy have a
drink before you."

"Does her doll have to drink, too?" asked Mun Bun. "Is she a lady?"

"She just makes believe drink," said Margy. "I'll give you the cup as
soon as I take some, Munny Bunny." Sometimes Margy called her little
brother that for fun.

Margy was very thirsty, and wanted two cups of water. But then the cup
was not a very large one. Next Mun Bun had to have some, and he tried to
drink three cupfuls. But the last one was a little too much for him,
and he spilled part of it on himself.

"But I don't care," he said. "It's only like when it rains, or when the
water splashes on you when you go in bathing. Only this water isn't
salt, like that down in the ocean at Cousin Tom's," he added.

"It's a good thing it isn't salt, or you couldn't drink it," said Rose,
as she wiped the water drops off Mun Bun with her handkerchief. "Now
come on back to your seats," she went on. "I guess I'd better take you