`` H 'm ! Smells nice in here , '' was his salutation to Alexina . `` I hope it will taste as good as it smells . I 'm hungry . '' Alexina soon left Uncle James and Stephen talking in the parlour and betook herself anxiously to the kitchen . She set the table in the little dining room , now and then pausing to listen with a delighted nod to the murmur of voices and laughter in the parlour . She felt sure that Stephen was making a favourable impression . She lifted the plum pudding and put it on a plate on the kitchen table ; then she took out the turkey , beautifully done , and put it on a platter ; finally , she popped the two mince pies into the oven . Just at this moment Stephen stuck his head in at the hall door . `` Lexy , do you know where that letter of Governor Howland 's to Father is ? Uncle James wants to see it . '' Alexina , not waiting to shut the oven door -- for delay might impress Uncle James unfavourably -- rushed upstairs to get the letter . She was ten minutes finding it . Then , remembering her pies , she flew back to the kitchen . In the middle of the floor she stopped as if transfixed , staring at the table . The turkey was gone . And the plum pudding was gone ! And the mince pies were gone ! Nothing was left but the platters ! For a moment Alexina refused to believe her eyes .
Then she saw a trail of greasy drops on the floor XXXXX the open door , out over the doorstep , and along the boards of the walk to the back fence .
For In as at if into of on that to