When lunch time came J. H. Cordyce saw all his grandchildren except Violet. He smiled with delight when he saw Jess coming down the stairs in her womanly fashion. Henry shook hands with him before he sat down, but he kept glancing at the stranger all through the meal.
"Where have I seen that man before?" he thought.
Mrs. McAllister had given the children's names clearly when she introduced them—Jess, Benny, and Henry. Henry James, she had added. But she had not added the man's name.
"She forgot," thought Jess, "Because she knows him so well, she thinks we do."
But although nameless, the stranger caught their attention. He told them wonderful stories about a steel rail which held up an entire bridge until the people had time to get off, about his collie dog, about a cucumber in his garden, growing inside of a glass bottle. Henry was interested. Benny was fascinated.
"I'd like to see the cucumber," said Benny, pausing in the middle of his shortcake.
"Would you, indeed?" said Mr. Cordyce,
