“Just like Swiss Family Robinson!” exclaimed Meg rapturously.  “Look at the funny stumpy trees!”

“We’ll take a walk this afternoon and explore,” her mother promised.  “Who is hungry enough to help me get lunch?”

They all were, it seemed, so they followed the worn path that led through a grassy field to the Winthrop bungalow.  This house was so surrounded by trees that it could hardly be seen till one reached the front door, though from the porch glimpses of the lake could be had through the trees.

“What a perfectly darling house!” Meg exclaimed when she saw it.

Mr. Winthrop had built his house of gray fieldstone, and it was truly charming.  There was a deep porch around three sides, a huge fireplace in the hall that also served as a living-room, and latticed windows in every room.  Mrs. Winthrop had furnished the place in exquisite taste, and Mother Blossom declared that she could be happy all Summer if she never went out of the house.

She had found an apron in her bag and was busy scrambling eggs when she said that.  Meg was setting the table in the kitchen, for one half of the room was designed to be used as the dining-room, and Dot and Twaddles were filling the salt cellars amiably.  Father Blossom had lighted the oil stove, and Bobby was unpacking the plates.  They had found all the things shipped from the Oak Hill home neatly stacked in the hall, ready to be opened.

“But you are going out of the house,” said Father Blossom decidedly.  “This isn’t going to be the kind of vacation where every one has a good time except Mother.  With five pairs of hands to help you, don’t you think you can manage to go with us on tramps and picnics?  And you used to like to row.”

“I do yet,” replied Mother Blossom.  “Of course, if you all help me, I’ll play when you play.  But lunch is ready, children.  Dot, what have you done to the front of that frock?”

“I shut it in the bathroom door,” explained Dot.  “It’s only ripped a little.”

She had torn it clear of the yoke so that it hung below her petticoat bodice, but every one was too excited and hungry to pay much attention to a torn frock.

After lunch, first washing the dishes, the Blossoms decided to try to walk around the island.  Unpacking, said Mother Blossom, could be done as well in the morning.

It was a clear, cool day; indeed, the Blossoms soon found that it was rare when a breeze did not sweep steadily over Apple Tree Island.  And, as Twaddles wrote to Norah, they “used blankets every night.”

The Blossoms discovered that Apple Tree Island gained its name from the fact that at each of its four points grew a sturdy, flourishing apple tree.  These were the only apple trees on the island, though there were a number of other kinds, the majority of them curiously shaped and stunted.  There were rocks on one side of the island, but on the other the shore sloped down to the lake gradually and was covered with grass almost to the water’s edge.  There was a gravelly beach tucked away between two points, and Bobby immediately wished for his bathing suit.  But he agreed to wait till morning for his first swim.