This was an idea of Mary Osborne's.

But what was their surprise, that the more they poured out, the
more cups they seemed to have! Elizabeth Eliza took the coffee,
and Mary Osborne the tea.

Amanda brought fresh cups from the kitchen.

"I can't understand it," Elizabeth Eliza said to Amanda. "Do they
come back to you, round through the piazza? Surely there are
more cups than there were!"

Her surprise was greater when some of them proved to be
coffee-cups that matched the set! And they never had had
coffee-cups.

Solomon John came in at this moment, breathless with triumph.

"Solomon John!" Elizabeth Eliza exclaimed; "I cannot understand
the cups!"

"It is my doing," said Solomon John, with an elevated air. "I went
to the lady from Philadelphia, in the midst of her talk. 'What do
you do in Philadelphia, when you haven't enough cups?' 'Borrow
of my neighbors,' she answered, as quick as she could."

"She must have guessed," interrupted Elizabeth Eliza.

"That may be," said Solomon John. "But I whispered to Ann Maria
Bromwick,­she was standing by,­and she took me straight over