Explore "Great-Uncle Hoot-Toot" by Mary Louisa Molesworth on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
It was not quite so bad as that, however. Farmer Eames turned in at the farmyard gate and led the two strangers into a good-sized kitchen, where the table was already set, in a homely fashion, for dinner. A stout, middle-aged woman, with a rather sharp face, turned from the fire, where she was superintending some cooking.
"Here we are again, wife," said Eames. "Glad to see dinner's ready. Take a chair, Mr. Ned. You'll have a glass of beer to begin with? " and as he poured it out, "This here's the new boy, missis -- I've settled to give him a trial."