He felt suddenly ravenous and hurried into his clothes. It is really
wonderful how all kinds of problems give place to the need for a
wash and breakfast. Somewhere outside he could hear water running,
so with a towel over his arm and a piece of soap in his pocket he
started out to find it. His room, as he had noted the night before,
was one of two small rooms under the eaves. There was a small, dark
landing between them and a steep, ladderlike stair led directly down
into the living-room. There was no one there; neither was there
anyone in the small kitchen at the back. Benis Spence decided that
this second room was a kitchen because it contained a cooking stove.
Otherwise he would not have recognized it, Aunt Caroline's idea of a
kitchen being quite otherwise. Someone had been having breakfast on
a corner of the table and a fire crackled in the stove. Window and
door were open, and leafy, ferny odors mingled with the smell of
burning cedar. The combined scent was very pleasant, but the
professor could have wished that the bouquet of coffee and fried
bacon had been included. He was quite painfully hungry.

Through the open door the voice of falling water still called to him
but of other and more human voices there were none. Well, he could
at least wash. With a shrug he turned away from the half cleared
table and, in the doorway, almost ran into the arms of a little, old
man in a frock coat and a large umbrella. There were other items of
attire, but they did not seem to matter.

"My dear sir," said the little, old man, in a gentle, gurgling
voice. "Let me make you welcome--very, very welcome!"

"Thank you," said the professor.