the paper packet and finding it.

"Well, supposing you come over here and eat yours with me. And if you could
manage to help me with any of mine I should be greatly indebted. I can't
bear having my meals alone, you know."

How can one possibly resist it when the Olympians come down so amiably from
their heights and offer us their hospitality? Moreover the Old Gentleman
had, from his bag, produced the most wonderfully shaped parcels. There was
certainly a meal, and Aunt Jessie's sandwiches would assuredly be thick and
probably no mustard!

So Peter slipped across and sat next to the Old Gentleman, and even shared
a rug. He ultimately shared a great many other things, like chicken and
tongue, apples and pears and plum cake.

"Of course," said the Old Gentleman, "you are going to school and probably
for the first time--and therefore your legs are as weak as pins, you have
a cold pain in the middle of your chest, and you have an intense desire to
see your mother again."

Peter admitted that this was true, although it wasn't his mother whom he
wished to see so much as a friend of his called Stephen, and, one or two
places like the Grey Hill and The Bending Mule. All this interested the Old
Gentleman very much.

"You, too, were at school?" Peter inquired politely.

"I was," said the Old Gentleman.