"Cherry what?" asked Jess, struggling down her ladder with a full basket.
"I think that's what they call it—slump," repeated Dr. McAllister. "Do you care to try it?"
At this moment Mary appeared in the orchard with an enormous tray. And at the first sight of her cookery, nobody cared the least what its name was. It was that rare combination of dumpling beaten with stoned cherries, and cooked gently in the juice of the oxheart cherries in a real "cherry year." It was steaming in the red juice, with the least suspicion of melted butter over the whole.
"Do get two more, Mary," begged Mrs. McAllister, laughing. "It tastes so much better under the cherry trees!"
This was another meal that nobody ever forgot. Even the two hired men sitting under another tree devouring the delicious pudding, paused to hear Benny laugh. Nowadays those two men sometimes meet Henry—but that's another story. Anyway, they never will forget that cherry slump made by Irish Mary.
Almost as soon as lunch was over Benny rolled over on the grass and went to sleep, his
