Whistlebinkie was rolling on the floor convulsed with laughter by the
time Mollie finished reading these rules. He knew enough about
house-keeping to know how delightful they were, and if the Unwiseman
could have seen him he would doubtless have been very much pleased at
his appreciation.
"The funny part of it all is, though," said Mollie, "that the poor old
man doesn't keep a cook at all, but does all his own housework."
"Let's see what kind of a dining-room he has got," said Whistlebinkie,
recovering from his convulsion. "I wonder which way it is."
"It must be in there to the right," said Mollie. "That is, it must if
that sign in the passage-way means anything. Don't you see,
Whistlebinkie, it says: 'This way to the dining-room,' and under it it
has 'Caution: meals must not be served in the parlor'?"
"So it has," said Whistlebinkie, reading the sign. "Let's go in there."
So the two little strangers walked into the dining-room, and certainly
if the kitchen was droll in the matter of placards, the dining-room was
more so, for directly over the table and suspended from the chandelier
were these