A THOUSAND WAYS TO
PLEASE A HUSBAND

[1]

A
THOUSAND WAYS
TO PLEASE A HUSBAND

[2]

[3]

A DEDICATION

[4]

Bettina's Measurements Are All Level

[5]

[10]

JUNE.

[11]

CHAPTER I

"Why that contented sigh?" asked Bob. "Because our wedding trip is over? Well, anyhow, Bettina, it's after five. Shall we have dinner at the hotel?"

"Hotel? Why, Bob! with our house and our dishes and our silver just waiting for us? I'm ashamed of you! We'll take the first car for home—a street-car, not a taxi! Our extravagant days are over, and the time has come to show you that Bettina knows how to keep house. You think that you love me now, Bobby, but just wait till you sit down to a real strawberry shortcake made by a real cook in a real home!"

Half an hour later Bob was unlocking the door of the new brown bungalow. "Isn't it a dear?" cried Bettina proudly. "When we've had time to give it grass and shrubs and flowers and a vegetable garden, no place in town will equal it! And as for porch furniture, how I'd like to get at Mother's attic and transform some of her discarded things!"

"Just now I'd rather get at some of Mother's cooking!" grinned Bob.

[12]

"Oh, dear, I forgot! I'll have supper ready in ten minutes. Do you remember my emergency shelf? Why, Bob—Bob, they must have known we were coming! Here's ice—and milk—and cream—and butter—and bread—and rolls, and even a grape fruit! They knew, and didn't meet the train because they thought we would prefer to have our first meal alone! Wasn't that dear of them? And this will save you a trip to the corner grocery!"

Bettina fastened a trim percale bungalow apron over her traveling suit, and swiftly and surely assembled the little meal.

"I like that apron," said Bob. "It reminds me of the rainy day when we fixed the emergency shelf. That was fun."

"Yes, and work too," said Bettina, "but I'm glad we did it. Do you remember how much I saved by getting things in dozen and half dozen lots? And Mother showed me how much better it was to buy the larger sizes in bottled things, because in buying the smaller bottles you spend most of your money for the glass. Now that you have to pay my bills, Bob, you'll be glad that I know those things!"

"I think you know a great deal," said Bob admiringly. "Lots of girls can cook, but mighty few know how to be economical at the same time! It's great to be your——"

"Dinner is served," Bettina interrupted. "It's a 'pick-up meal,' but I'm hungry, aren't you? And after this, sir, no more canned things!"

And Bob sat down to:

[13]

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pimento. Mix well. Gradually pour in the milk. Allow the mixture to boil one minute. Stir constantly. Add the fish, cook one minute and pour over toasted strips of bread.

Cook chocolate, sugar and water until a thin custard is formed. Add milk gradually and bring to a boil. Whip with an egg beater, as this breaks up the albumin found in chocolate, and prevents the coating from forming over the top. Add vanilla and marshmallows. Allow to stand a moment and pour into the cups.

Pick over, wash and hull the berries. Make a syrup by boiling the sugar and water fifteen minutes. Fill sterilized jars with the berries. Cover with syrup and let stand fifteen minutes to settle. Add more berries. Adjust rubbers and covers. Place on a folded cloth in a kettle of cold water. Heat water to boiling point and cook slowly one hour. Screw on covers securely.

[14]

CHAPTER II

"Steak is expensive, dear, and you'll not get it often, but as this is our first real dinner in our own home, I had to celebrate. I bought enough for two meals, because buying steak for one meal for two people is beyond any modest purse! So you'll meet that steak again tomorrow, but I don't believe that you'll bow in recognition!"

"So you marketed today, did you?"

"Indeed I did! I bought a big basket, and went at it like a seasoned housekeeper. I had all the staples to get, you know, and lots of other things. After dinner I'll show you the labelled glass jars on my shelves; it was such fun putting things away! June is a wonderful month for housekeepers. I've planned the meals for days ahead, because I know that's best. Then I'll go to the market several times a week, and if I plan properly I won't have to order by telephone. It seems so extravagant to buy in that way unless you know exactly what you are getting. I like to plan for left-overs, too. For instance, the peas in this salad were left from yesterday's dinner, and the pimento is from that can I opened. Then, too, I cooked tomorrow's potatoes with these to save gas and bother. You'll have them served in a different way, of course. And—— Oh, yes, Bob," Bettina chattered on, "I saw Ruth down town, and have asked all five of my bridesmaids[15] to luncheon day after tomorrow. Won't that be fun? But I promise you that the neglected groom shall have every one of the good things when he comes home at night!"

"It makes me feel happy, I can tell you, to have a home like this. It's pleasant to be by ourselves, but at the same time I can't help wishing that some of the bachelors I know could see it all and taste your cooking!"

"Well, Bob, I want you to feel free to have a guest at any time. If my dinners are good enough for you, I'm sure they're good enough for any guest whom you may bring. And it isn't very hard to make a meal for three out of a meal for two. Now, Bobby, if you're ready, will you please get the dessert?"

"What? Strawberry shortcake? Well, this is living! I tell you what, Bettina, I call this a regular man-size meal!"

It consisted of:

Wipe the meat carefully with a wet cloth. Remove superfluous fat and any gristle. Cut the edges to prevent them from curling up. When the broiling oven is very hot, place the meat, without any fat, upon a hot flat pan, directly under the blaze. Brown both sides very quickly. Turn often. Reduce heat and continue cooking about seven minutes, or longer if desired. Place on a warm platter; season with salt, pepper and bits of butter. Set in the oven a moment to melt the butter. If salt is added while cooking, the juices will be drawn out. A gravy may be made by adding hot water, butter, salt, pepper and parsley to the pan. Pour the gravy over the steak.

[16]

Scrape four medium sized new potatoes. Cook in boiling water (salted) until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain off the water, and shake the kettle over the fire gently, to allow the steam to escape and make the potatoes mealy. Make the following white sauce and pour over the potatoes.

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Thoroughly mix, slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Allow sauce to cook two minutes.

Cut the fat into the flour, salt and baking powder until the consistency of cornmeal. Gradually add the milk, using a knife to mix. Do not handle any more than absolutely necessary. Toss the dough upon a floured board or a piece of clean brown paper. Pat into the desired shape, and place in a pan. Bake in a hot oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Split, spread with butter, and place strawberries, crushed and sweetened, between and on top. Serve with cream.

[17]

CHAPTER III

Bettina left the telephone with more misgivings than her tone had indicated. She couldn't disappoint Bob, and she liked unexpected company, but the dinner which she had planned was prepared largely from the recipes filed as "left-overs" in her box of indexed cards.

"Well, Bob will like it, anyhow," she declared confidently, "and if Alice can come, we'll have enough scintillating table-talk to make up for disappointments."

Alice accepted with delight, promising to wear "a dream of a gown that just came home," and confessing to a sentimental feeling at the thought of dining with such a new bride and groom.

"Let's see," said Bettina in her spick and span little kitchen, "there is meat enough, but I must hard-boil some eggs to help out these potatoes. 'Potatoes Anna' will be delicious. Goodness, what would my home economics teacher have said if she had heard me say 'hard-boil'? They mustn't really be boiled at all, just 'hard-cooked' in water kept at the boiling point. There will be enough baked green peppers for four, and enough of the pudding, and if I add some very good coffee[18], I don't believe that Bob's Mr. Harrison will feel that women are such nuisances after all! It isn't an elaborate meal, but it's wholesome, and at any rate, our gas bill will be a little smaller because everything goes into the oven."

When Alice arrived, Bettina was putting the finishing touches on her table. "Alice, you look stunning!"

"And you look lovely, which is better! And the table is charming! Those red clover blossoms in that brown basket make a perfect center-piece! How did you think of it?"

"Mother Necessity reminded me, my dear! My next door neighbor has roses, but I covet some for my luncheon tomorrow, and did not like to ask for any today. So I had to use these red clover blooms from our own back yard. They are simple, like the dinner."

"Don't you envy me, Harrison?" asked Bob at the table. "This is my third day of real home cooking! You were unexpected company, too!"

The dinner consisted of:

Beat the egg, add milk, seasonings, melted butter, breadcrumbs and meat. Mix thoroughly. Fill buttered cups three-fourths full of mixture. Place in a pan of boiling water, and[19] bake in a moderate oven fifteen minutes. The mixture is done as soon as it resists pressure in the center. Allow them to remain in the pans a few minutes, then remove carefully upon a serving plate. They may be made in a large mould or individual ones. Serve with the following sauce.

Simmer the tomatoes, onion, bay leaves, cloves, sugar and water for fifteen minutes, rub through the strainer. Melt butter, add flour and salt, add strained tomato juice and pulp. Cook until the desired consistency.

Place alternate layers of diced cooked potatoes and sliced hard-cooked eggs in a baking dish. Season. Pour a thin white sauce over all of this. Place in a moderate oven fifteen minutes.

Remove the stems of the peppers and take out all the contents. Remove small slices from the blossom end so they will stand. Cover peppers with boiling water, allow to stand five minutes and drain. Fill with any desired mixture. Bake in a moderate oven twenty-five minutes, basting frequently with hot water.

[20]

Mix thoroughly and fill the pepper cases.

Mix dry ingredients, add egg and milk. Beat well and add melted butter and extract. Bake twenty-five minutes in a well buttered mould. Serve hot with the following sauce:

Mix sugar, flour and salt. Slowly add the hot water. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add flavoring and butter.

[21]

CHAPTER IV

"Yes," said Bettina, "and those maline bows on the basket of roses actually attended my wedding. And after this is over, you may see that maline again. I expect to press it out and put it away for other pink luncheons in other Junes! Today, since my guests were to be just my bridesmaids, I thought that a pink luncheon would be the most appropriate kind."

"Isn't it fine to be in Bettina's own house? I can't realize it!" said Ellen. "And the idea of daring to cook a whole luncheon and serve it in courses all by herself! Why, Bettina, how did you know what to have?"

"Well," said Bettina, "I went to the market and saw all the inexpensive things that one can buy in June! (They had to be inexpensive! Why, if I were to tell you just what this luncheon cost, you'd laugh. But I want you to like it all before I give that secret away.) And then in planning my menu, I thought of pinky things that went together. That was all, you see."

"But didn't it take hours and hours to prepare everything?"

"Why, no. I thought it all out first, and wrote it down, and did most of it yesterday. I've found that five minutes of planning is worth five hours of unplanned work. I haven't hurried, and as Bob will have this same meal as his dinner tonight, I didn't have to think of him except to plan for more.[22] You see, I estimated each portion as carefully as I could, for it isn't necessary to have a lot of left-over things. Tonight I'll wear this same pink gown at dinner so that Bob will get every bit that he can of my first luncheon except the silly girls who flattered the cook."

"Bettina, there are so many things I'd like to ask you!" said Ruth, who was a little conscious of the shining ring on her left hand. "Tell me, for instance, how you shaped these cunning timbales. With your hands?"

"With a conical ice-cream mould. It is so easy that way."

"And this salad! Fred is so fond of salad, but I don't know a thing about making it."

"Well, I washed the lettuce thoroughly, and when it was very wet I put it on the ice in a cloth. I poured boiling water over these tomatoes to make the skins peel off easily. And, oh, yes, these cucumbers are crisp because I kept the slices in ice water for awhile before I served them. Good salad is always very cold; the ingredients ought to be chilled before they are mixed."

"These dear little cakes, Bettina! How could you make them in such cunning shapes?"

"With a fancy cutter. And I dipped it in warm water each time before I used it, so that it would cut evenly. I'd love to show you girls all that I know about cooking. Do learn it now while you're at home; it will save much labor and even tears! Why, Bob said——"

"I knew that was coming!" laughed Alice. "Girls, in self-defense, let's keep the conversation strictly on Betty's menu, and away from Betty's husband!"

And so they discussed:

[23]

Pick over selected berries, place in a colander and wash, draining carefully. Press powdered sugar into cordial glasses to shape into a small mould. Remove from glasses onto centers of paper doilies placed on fruit plates. Attractively arrange ten berries around each mound. Berries should be kept cool and not hulled. Natural leaves may be used very effectively on the doily.

Cut stale bread in one-third inch cubes. Brown in the oven. Add melted butter and salt. Mix and reheat the croutons.

Mix ingredients in order named. Fill small buttered moulds or cups one-half full. Set in a pan of hot water, and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with following sauce:

Melt the butter, stir flour in well, and slowly add the milk. Let it boil about two minutes, stirring constantly. Season, add yolk of egg, and mix well. (The oil from the salmon may be substituted for melted butter as far as it will go.)

[24]

Cream butter, add sugar, and continue creaming. Alternately add the dry ingredients mixed and sifted. Add the milk. Beat well, add flavoring. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites. Spread evenly, two-thirds of an inch thick, on waxed paper, placed in a pan. Bake twenty minutes in moderate oven. Remove from oven, allow cake to remain in pan five minutes. Carefully remove and cool. Cut with fancy cutters.

Boil the sugar, water and cream of tartar together without stirring. Remove from fire as soon as the syrup hairs when dropped from a spoon. Pour very slowly onto the stiffly beaten egg white. Beat vigorously with sweeping strokes until cool. If icing gets too hard to spread, add a little warm water and keep beating. Add extract and spread on cakes. Decorate with tiny pink candies.

[25]

CHAPTER V

"Why, Bob, dear! Good for you! How did you get home so early?"

"I caught a ride with Dixon in his new car. And I thought you might need me to help get dinner; it's nice to be needed! But here I've been picturing you toiling over a hot stove, and, instead, I find you on the porch with a magazine, as cool as a cucumber!"

"The day of toiling over a hot stove in summer is over. At least for anyone with sense! But I'm glad you did come home early, and you can help with dinner. Will you make the French dressing for the salad? See, I'll measure it out, and you can stir it this way with a fork until it's well mixed and a little thick."

"I know a much better way than that. Just watch your Uncle Bob; see? I'll put it in this little Mason jar and shake it. It's a lot easier and—there you are! We'll use what we need tonight, put the jar away in the ice-box, and the next time we can give it another good shaking before we use it."

"Why, Bob, what an ingenious boy you are! I never would have thought of that!"

"You married a man with brains, Betty dear! What is there besides the salad?"

"Halibut steak. It's Friday, you know, and there is such good inexpensive fish on the market. A pound is plenty for[26] us. The potatoes are ready for the white sauce, the beans are in the fireless cooker, and for dessert there is fresh pineapple sliced. The pineapple is all ready. Will you get it, dear? In the ice-box in a covered jar."

"Why didn't you slice it into the serving dish?"

"Because it had to be covered tight. Pineapple has a penetrating odor, and milk and butter absorb it in no time."

"What else shall I do, Madam Bettina?"

"Well, you may fix the lemon for the fish. No, not sliced; a slice is too hard to handle. Just cut it in halves and then once the other way, in quarters; see? You may also cut up a little of that parsley for the creamed new potatoes. That reminds me that I am going to have parsley growing in a kitchen window box some day. Now you can take the beans out of the cooker, and I'll put butter sauce on them. No, it isn't really a sauce,—just melted butter with salt and pepper. There, Bobby dear! Dinner is served, and you helped! How do you like the coreopsis on the table?"

"You always manage to have flowers of some kind, don't you, Betty? I'm growing so accustomed to that little habit of yours that I suppose I wouldn't have any appetite if I had to eat on an ordinary undecorated table!"

"Don't you make fun of me, old fellow! You'd have an appetite no matter when, how or what you had to eat! But things are good tonight, aren't they?"

Bob had helped to prepare:

Wash one pound of Halibut steak and wipe dry. Cut in two pieces. Roll in flour, and cook ten minutes in a frying pan[27] in hot fat. Brown on one side, and then on the other. Season with salt and paprika. Serve very hot.

Remove ends and strings from green beans. Add water and cook over a moderate fire for twenty-five minutes. Drain off the water, add butter, salt and paprika. Reheat and serve.

Arrange lettuce on serving dishes. Place portions of tomato, cucumber and pimento on the lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and paprika. Serve with French dressing.

Mix ingredients, which have been thoroughly chilled, and beat until the mixture thickens. Pour over the vegetables.

Remove the skin and eyes from the pineapple. Cut crosswise in half-inch slices, and the slices in cubes, at the same time discarding the core. Sprinkle with sugar and stand in a cold place for an hour before serving.

[28]

CHAPTER VI

That afternoon Bettina looked anxiously through the living room window across the bare little front yard. If only critical Cousin Matilda had waited a few months before coming! But then, the only thing to do was to be as cheerful about it as possible——

"So this is little Bettina!" said a majestic voice at the door. "And how is love in a cottage? How charmingly simple everything is!"

"They planned it all just as they wanted it," explained Bettina's mother proudly. "On a small scale, of course, but perhaps some day——"

"But I couldn't ever be happier than I am right now, Cousin Matilda. What do you think of our big living room? Browns and tans seemed best and safest in a little house like this, and I knew I shouldn't tire of them as of any other color! I do so dislike going into a bungalow with one little room in blue, another in pink, and so on. The walls are all alike, even in[29] the bedrooms. And the curtains are just simple cotton voiles, ecru in the living and dining rooms, and white in the bedrooms. No side curtains to catch the dust and keep out the air. But I beg your pardon for seeming too complacent; I love it all so that I just can't help boasting."

"What is this, my dear? A wedding gift?"

"Yes, isn't it lovely? It is a sampler in cross-stitch that Bob's great-great-grandmother made! His Aunt Margaret had it put under the glass cover of this tea cart, and gave it to us for a wedding present. See, the cart is brown willow, and I think it looks well with our furniture, don't you? This is to be a living porch, but we haven't furnished it yet except for this green matting rug. And Bob brought that hanging basket home from the florist's the other day.... Oh, yes, this is my Japanese garden! Bob laughs at me, I have so much fun watching it."

"What a lovely table decoration those red cherries make in your dining room, my dear! Like a picture, in that piece of dull green pottery!"

"Yes, Bob says I decorate the table differently for every meal! We use this breakfast alcove for breakfast, Sunday evening tea, or any informal meal when we are alone. You see how convenient it is! I do want to put a round serving table with leaves on our living porch. Then we can eat there on warm evenings in summer."

"Bettina is very accomplished in economy," said her mother. "You must let her tell you some of her methods."

"Clementine would be interested, I'm sure," said Cousin Matilda in her languid way. "Is this your guest room?"

"Yes, and Bob and I are proud of that. We white enameled the furniture ourselves! It is some that we found in a second-hand store, and it was certainly a bargain, though it didn't look it at the time. I sewed the rags together for these blue and white rugs. Bob made that little open desk out of a small table that we found somewhere. Now that it is white, too, I think it is cunning. And, Cousin Matilda, I give you three guesses as to the place in which I keep my sewing machine!"

"Why, I haven't seen it yet. In the kitchen?"

[30]

"Goodness, no! Well, I'll tell you! This looks like a dressing table, but is merely a shelf with a mirror above it. The shelf has a cretonne cover and 'petticoat' that reaches the floor. And underneath it—behold the sewing machine! Bob made the shelf high enough and wide enough to let the sewing machine slip under it! But, Cousin Matilda, you must be tired of Bettina's economies! Please sit down with mother in the living room and I will get the 'party.'"

And Bettina wheeled her tea cart into the kitchen, returning with luncheon napkins, plates, glasses, a pitcher of iced fruit juice, a plate of little chocolate cakes, and several sprays of wild roses.

"What delicious little cakes, Bettina! At least you can't be called economical when you serve such rich and dainty food as this!"

"I must plead guilty still, Cousin Matilda. I made these little cakes partly from dry bread crumbs. The fruit juice is mostly from the pineapple which Bob had for dessert last night. I cooked the core with about two cups of water and added it to the lemonade."

"Bettina, Bettina! How did you learn these things? Robert is certainly a lucky man, and I'm sure that some day he will be a wealthy one! You must give me the recipes you used!"

And Bettina wrote them down as follows:

Cream the butter, add sugar, and cream the mixture. Add the beaten eggs and stir well. Add melted chocolate, bread crumbs, flour and flavoring. Spread the mixture very thinly on a buttered pan, and bake twenty minutes in a slow oven. Shape with a tiny biscuit cutter, and put together in pairs with[31] mountain cream icing between and on top. (Icing recipe already given.)

Boil sugar and water ten minutes without stirring, add lemon juice, and any other fruit juices. Cool and bottle. Keep on ice and dilute with ice water when desired for use. Serve mint leaves with the fruit juice.

[32]

JULY.

[33]

CHAPTER VII

"Yes, indeed, I will go!" Bettina answered him. "Is it nearly ten o'clock? Oh, yes, nine forty-five. I'll go at once and get ready."

Cousin Henry had arrived late Saturday evening. He was filling the pulpit of a friend that Sunday morning.

Bettina finished arranging the low bowl of pansies which was to be her table decoration. "For the dinner table," she explained to Cousin Henry.

"And Bob," she said as they walked to church (Cousin Henry was ahead with an old friend), "I do believe he was worried about dinner. There wasn't a trace of any preparation to be seen! You know I made the cake and the salad dressing yesterday, and the lettuce was on the ice. The sherbet was on the porch (I bought it, you know), and the lamb and potatoes were in the cooker."

"Well, let him worry! How long will it take to get it ready after we get home?"

[34]

"About fifteen minutes. The table is set, but I'll have to warm the plates and take things up. Then there's the gravy to make, of course."

"All I can say is this," said Cousin Henry at dinner, as he passed his plate for a second helping, "since you've explained the mysteries of the fireless cooker, I realize how it would have helped those cold Sunday dinners of the past generation. The women could have obeyed the fourth commandment and given their families a good Sunday dinner, too!"

That day they had:

Wash the lamb with a damp cloth. Wipe dry and sprinkle with two teaspoons of salt. Place the lard in a frying-pan. When hot, add the lamb, and brown well on all sides. Place the meat in the fireless utensil. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and paprika. Arrange these about the leg of lamb. Place the disks, heated for baking, over and under the baking pan. Cook three hours in the fireless. Use the drippings for gravy.

Place half of the drippings in a sauce-pan. Add the flour, and allow it to brown. Add slowly the water, salt and the rest of the drippings (two tablespoonsful). Boil one minute.

[35]

Chop the mint leaves very fine. Add the boiling water and sugar. Cover closely and let stand one-half hour. Add the vinegar, pepper and salt.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and the egg. Mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nut-meats, salt, milk, vanilla and lemon extract. Beat two minutes. Pour into a loaf-cake pan prepared with waxed paper. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven.

[36]

CHAPTER VIII

"Bettina, let me help you unpack. Everything looks so dainty and interesting!" said Alice, as Bob and Mr. Harrison strolled off toward the river. "You ought to have allowed me to bring something, although I'll admit that I do enjoy being surprised. You were a dear to bring me with you!"

"I?" said Bettina. "Of course I'm glad to have you here—no one is better fun—but I wish you had heard something that Bob told me. He and Harry Harrison were planning to go fishing today, all by themselves, until Harry suggested that Bob might like to bring me along. And then he added as an afterthought, that as three is a crowd, Miss Alice might be induced to come too. (Why is it that 'Miss Alice' or 'Miss Kate' or 'Miss May' always sounds so like a confirmed bachelor?) Bob chuckled when he told me how careless and offhand Harry tried to be!"

"Betty, how pretty those pasteboard plates are with the flag-seals pasted on them!"

"I saw some ready-made Fourth of July plates, but it was more economical to make my own. And how do you like the red, white and blue paper napkins and lunch cloth? 'Lunch paper,' I ought to say, I suppose. Alice, you arrange the fruit in the center in this basket, with some napkins around it, and[37] with these little flags sticking out of it in every direction. But first, my dear, please tell me why you changed the subject when I was speaking of Mr. Harrison?"

"Those devilled eggs wrapped in frilled tissue-paper look just like torpedoes."

"Alice, Alice, I learned something new about you today. Harry said that society girls got on his nerves, but that 'Miss Alice' seemed sensible enough!"

"Goodness, Betty, he has disagreed with every single thing I've said, so far! If he is being pleasant behind my back, I don't see why he should be so disapproving in his manner to me! But if he is really beginning to think me sensible, let us by all means encourage him! Hide my frivolous new hat in the lunch-basket, and give me something useful to be doing. Can't I appear to be mixing the salad?... Honestly, Betty, I do get tired of society as a single interest. But what else is there for me to do? Go into settlement work? I'd be a joke at that! Learn to design jewelry? Take singing lessons?"

"Try the good old profession of matrimony. Why are you so fickle, Alice, my dear?"

"I'm not; it's the men! Every sensible one I meet is—well, disagreeable to me!"

"Meaning Harry Harrison? He appears to be taking quite an interest, at least!"

"That is merely his reforming instinct coming to the surface. But—is everything ready now? We'll sing a few bars of the Star Spangled Banner, and I'm sure the men will come immediately!"

The lunch table was set with:

[38]

Mix the ingredients in the order given. Use a silver fork for mixing. Garnish with lettuce leaves.

Mix ham, olives and pickles with salad dressing and spread on lettuce or nasturtium leaves between buttered slices of bread. Trim off the crusts, and cut the sandwiches in fancy shapes.

Shell the eggs, cut lengthwise in half, remove yolks, mash them and add vinegar, mustard, melted butter, parsley and salt. Refill the whites and put pairs together. Wrap in tissue paper with frilled edges to represent torpedoes.

Cream the butter, add the sugar. Mix well. Add the egg yolks, slightly beaten, and the potato. Stir, add the chocolate, milk and then all the dry ingredients which have been mixed and sifted together. Fold in the white of the eggs beaten stiffly. Add the vanilla. Pour into two layer-cake pans which have been prepared with waxed paper. Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. Ice with white mountain cream icing.

[39]

CHAPTER IX

"Do come in," begged Bettina, "and have a little lunch with us. After such a bountiful dinner, we really ought not to be hungry, but I confess that the lovely drive home has given me an appetite. And you've never been here for a meal! Don't be frightened, Uncle John, I really thought of this yesterday, and my cupboard isn't entirely bare. It would be so much fun to show you our things and the house!"

"I'm not afraid I won't be fed well," said Uncle John, "but those clouds are black in the east. If it should rain we'd have trouble getting home. Besides, I don't like to have the car standing out in a storm."

"I don't believe it'll rain, John," said comfortable Aunt Lucy. "And if it does, well, we'll manage somehow. I, for one, would like to see Bettina's kitchen—and all the rest of her house," she added.

Bettina arranged the dainty little meal on the porch table, and Aunt Lucy and Uncle John sat down with good appetites.

"This looks almost too pretty to eat," said he as he looked at his plate with its slice of jellied beef on head lettuce, served with salad dressing, and its fresh crisp potato chips. And the nasturtium and green leaf lay beside them.

"Have a radish and a sandwich, Uncle John," said Bettina. "We have plenty, if not variety. Our only dessert is fresh pears."

"But it all tastes mighty good!" said Uncle John. "Say, Bob, it is beginning to rain, I believe!"

[40]

"Sure enough, a regular storm! We must put the car in the empty garage across the street. I'm sure we can get permission." And he and Uncle John hurried out.

"It will blow over, I'm sure," said Aunt Lucy.

"But if it doesn't—why, Aunt Lucy, stay here all night! We'd love to have you! The guest room is always ready. I know you'll be comfortable, and they can manage without you at home for once, I'm sure."

"Of course they'll be all right, and it would be quite exciting to be 'company' for a change. If only Uncle John thinks he can do it!"

"It looks as if there'll be nothing else to do," said Uncle John, when he and Bob returned. "Not but what I'd enjoy it—but I haven't been away from home a night for—how long is it, Lucy?"

"Seven years last May, John. All the more reason why this'll do you good."

"Oh, I'm so glad you'll really stay!" said Bettina. "Now tell me what you like for breakfast!"

"Anything you have except those new fashioned breakfast foods," Uncle John replied. "I might feed 'em to my stock, now, but not to a human being. But don't you worry about me, Betty! Because I don't worry about the breakfast proposition. Bob here is a pretty good advertisement of the kind of cooking you can do!"

The lunch that night consisted of:

[41]

Soak the gelatin in one tablespoon cold water for three minutes. Add the boiling water and dissolve thoroughly. Add the meat, onion, pimento, salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Stir well together and turn into a mould that has been moistened with cold water. (A square or rectangular mould is preferable.) Stand in a cold place for two hours. When cold and firm, unmould on lettuce leaves and cut into slices. Salad dressing may be served with it.

Wash the radishes thoroughly with a vegetable brush. Cut off the long roots and all but one inch of green tops. These tops make the radishes easier to handle and more attractive. Serve in a bowl of chopped ice.

Cream the peanut butter, add the butter. Cream again, add the salt and salad dressing, mixing well. Cut the bread evenly. Butter one side of the bread very thinly with the peanut butter mixture. Place the lettuce leaf on one slice and place another slice upon it, buttered side down. Press firmly and neatly together. Cut in two crosswise. Arrange attractively in a wicker basket.

[42]

CHAPTER X

"How dear of you, Ruth!" said Bettina, as she put away the breakfast dishes. "Well, you shall have the benefit of everything that I know. Bob and I began with the kitchen when we planned this little house. It seemed so important. I expected to spend a great deal of time here, and I was determined to have it cheerful and convenient. I never could see why a kitchen should not be a perfectly beautiful room, as beautiful as any in the whole house!"

"Yours is, Bettina," said Ruth, warmly, as she looked around her. "No wonder you can cook such fascinating little meals. It is light, and sunny and clean looking—oh, immaculate!—and has such a pleasant view!"

"I wanted it to have lots of sunshine. We had the walls painted this shade of yellow, because it seemed pretty and cheerful. Perhaps you won't care to have white woodwork like this, but you see it is plain and I don't find it hard to keep clean out here on the edge of town! I think it is so pretty that I don't expect to regret my choice. Another thing, Ruth, do get a good grade of inlaid linoleum like this. I know the initial expense is greater, but a good piece will last a long time, and will always look well."

[43]

"How high the sink is, Bettina!"

"Thirty-six inches. You see, I'm not very tall and yet I have always found that every other sink I tried was too low for solid comfort. The plumbers have a way of making them all alike—thirty-two inches from the floor, I think. They were scandalized because I asked them to change the regulation height, and yet, I find this exactly right. And isn't it a lovely white enameled one? I am happy whenever I look at it! Don't laugh, Ruth; a sink is a very important piece of furniture! I had always liked this kind with the grooved drain-board on each side, sloping just a little toward the center. And see how easily I can reach up and put away the dishes in the cupboard, you see. I don't like a single dish or utensil in sight when the kitchen is in order. This roll of paper toweling here by the sink is very convenient for wiping off the table or taking grease off pans and dishes or even for drying glass and silver. A roll lasts a long time, and certainly does save dishcloths and towels.

"Do you use your fireless cooker often?"

"Every day of the year—I do believe. I cook breakfast food in it, and all kinds of meats except those that are boiled or fried. Then it is splendid for steaming brown bread and baking beans, and oh, so many other things! Mother keeps hers under the kitchen table, but I find it more convenient here at the right of the stove—on a box just level with the stove. Next, O Neophyte, you may observe the stove. The oven is at the side, high up so that one need not stoop to use it. It has a glass oven door through which I can watch my baking."

"I like this white enameled table. And the high stool must be convenient, too."

"It is splendid. Ruth, haven't you an old marble topped table at home? It would be just the thing for pastry making."

"Yes, I do know of one, I think, and I'll have the lower part enameled white."

"Fred can do it himself. Let him help to fix things up, and he'll be all the more interested in them, and in helping you use them."

"Bettina, this is an adorable breakfast alcove! What fun[44] you must have every morning! If we have one, I don't believe we'll ever use the dining room. How convenient! Here come the waffles—hot from the stove! Fred, do have a hot muffin!"

"Not at the same meal, Ruth!"

"No, he'll be fortunate if he gets anything to eat at all! He isn't marrying a Bettina. But he says he's satisfied. Bettina, does Bob help get breakfast?"

"Indeed he does. He loves to make coffee in the electric percolator and toast on the toaster. He says that an electric toaster and plenty of bath towels are the real necessities of life, but I say I cannot live without flowers and a fireplace. Oh, you will have such fun, Ruth! Let Fred help you all he will."

"I'm hearing all this advice!" suddenly shouted a big voice in her ear. "Look here, Mrs. Bettina, does Bob know that you are advising your friends to train their husbands just as you are training him?"

"Fred, you old eavesdropper! I hope that Ruth makes you get breakfast every single morning to pay for this! Aren't you ashamed? Don't you know that listeners never hear any good of themselves?"

"I suppose Fred knew he needn't worry," said rosy Ruth, as she took his arm. "Look, Fred, isn't it a dear little house? May he see it all, Bettina?"

"Yes, if he'll explain how a busy man can get away at this hour of the morning."

"Well, you see I was on my way to the office when I caught a glimpse of Ruth's pink dress at your back door. I happened to think that she said she didn't get a recipe for those 'skyrocket rolls' that you had at your party the other day. I just thought I'd have to remind her, for the sake of my future."

"What under the shining sun! Oh, pinwheel biscuits!"

"Yes—that's it!"

"Why—all right. I have it filed away in my card-index. Here—with a picture of them pasted on the card. I cut it out of the magazine that gave the recipe. They are delicious."

[45]

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, work in the lard with a knife, add gradually the milk, mixing with the knife to a soft dough. Toss on a floured board, roll one inch thick, spread with butter, and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon, which have been well mixed. Press in the raisins. Roll up the mixture evenly as you would a jelly roll. Cut off slices, an inch thick—flatten a little and place in a tin pan. Bake in a hot oven for fifteen minutes. (These are similar to the cinnamon rolls made from yeast sponge.)

[46]

CHAPTER XI

"Fine, Betty! We'll do it again! I don't object at all to getting up early when I'm once up! And we ought to get out and play tennis before breakfast every day."

"I knew you'd like it when you'd tried it once. But it took my birthday to make you willing to celebrate this way."

"Just you wait till you see what I have for you at home! I made it all myself, with a little help from Ruth!"

"Oh, Bob, is that what you've been doing all these evenings? I'm so anxious to see it! I've begrudged the time you've spent all alone hammering and sawing away down in the basement, but I didn't let myself even wonder what it was you were making, since you had asked me not to look."

"Well, while you're beginning the breakfast, I'll be bringing your birthday gift upstairs. Then I can help you."

In a short time, when Bettina was arranging the cheerful hollyhocks on the table, she heard a low whistle behind her. There stood Bob—looking like a sandwich-man, with a brightly flowered cretonne screen draped about him.

"Well, how do you like it?"

"Oh, Bob, it's the sewing-screen I've been wanting, and it just matches the cretonne bedroom hangings! Here are the little pockets for mending and darning materials—and the[47] larger ones for the unfinished work! How beautifully it is made—and won't it be convenient! It will be useful as a screen, and also as a place for those sewing things, for I have no good place at all in which to keep them! It will be decorative, too! And how light it is! I can carry it so easily, and work beside it on the porch or in the living room!"

"Glad you like it! Ruth designed it, and made the pockets. I did the carpenter work."

"Bob, it's a lovely birthday gift, and I appreciate it all the more because you made it yourself. How pretty it is with all the woodwork enameled white!"

"I wanted it to match the bedroom things. Well, is that coffee done yet? Tennis certainly does give me an appetite!"

Breakfast consisted of:

Butter the bottom of a saucepan or frying-pan. Fill half full of boiling water. Break the eggs one at a time in a sauce dish, and slip them very gently into the pan of boiling water. The eggs will lower the temperature of the water to a point below the boiling point. Keep the water at this point (below boiling). Allow the eggs to remain in the water four to six minutes, or until the desired consistency. Remove from the water with a skimmer and serve on slices of toast which are hot, buttered, and slightly moistened with water. The proper length of time for poaching eggs is until a white film has formed over the yolks and the white is firm. A tin or aluminum egg poacher is very convenient. When using rings, butter the rings, fill each compartment with an egg, and dip into the boiling water. These are inexpensive, and economical, as no part of the egg is wasted.

[48]

Toast slices of bread one-half an inch thick on the broiler directly under the flame, or on a toaster fitted for a burner on top of the stove. Brown on one side, then turn and brown on the other. When both sides are an even golden brown, butter one side, care being taken to butter the edges. Set the toast on an enamel plate or tin pie-pan in the oven, until all the pieces are ready for serving. Always serve toast very hot.

Wash, peel and core the apples. Add water and cook slowly in a covered utensil until tender. Remove cover, add the sugar and cook two minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon on the top.

[49]

CHAPTER XII

"Now, Charlie, you know that all girls have to learn at some time or other," interrupted Bettina's mother. "And I believe that Bob has fared pretty well, considering that Bettina is just beginning to keep house——"

"I should say so!" said Bob, heartily. "Why, I'm getting fat! I was weighed to-day, and——"

"Don't say any more, Bob! We'll rent the house and take to boarding! If you get fat——"

"No boarding-houses for mine! Not after your cooking, Bettina! I had enough of boarding before I was married. Say—how long ago that does seem."

"Has the time dragged as much as that? Well, I'll change the subject. Dad, how do you like my Japanese garden? I think it's pretty, don't you?"

"I certainly do, my dear. What are those feathery things?"

"Why, don't you know that, Father? And when you were a boy, you worked on a farm one summer, too! There's a parsnip and a horse radish, and a beet. Then there are a few parsley seeds and grass seeds on a tiny sponge! And see the little shells and stones that Bob and I collected for it."

"Yes, we found that pink stone up the river on a picnic a[50] year ago last May, before we were engaged, or were we engaged then, Bettina? And the purple one——"

"Oh, you needn't reminisce," Bettina interrupted hastily. "Eat your dinner."

"I composed that poem just this minute," said Bob, undisturbed.

"Will you help me get the dessert now, Robert? Are you ready, Mother? And Father?"

"Yes, indeed. A very fine dinner, Bettina. We never have steak fixed this way at home; do we, Mother? Can we try it some day soon?"

"I have something for dessert that you like, Dad. Guess what!"

"What is it? Oh, lemon pie! That is fine, I can tell you! But I know already that it won't be as good as your mother's! Still, we'll try it and see!"

That evening for dinner, Bettina served:

Melt the butter in a frying-pan, slice the onion in it and sauté gently until golden brown in color. Remove the onion from[51] the butter, cut the flank steak into pieces three by two inches. Dredge these lightly in one tablespoon flour and sauté in the butter until well browned. Remove the meat from the frying-pan; add the salt, pepper, paprika, mustard, vinegar and flour. Mix all together and add the water slowly. Replace the steak in the pan, cover closely and simmer one hour, or until the steak is tender. Serve on a warm platter and pour the gravy over it.

Mix and sift the flour, baking powder and salt; cut in the lard with a knife until the consistency of cornmeal. Add the milk, mixing with a knife. Pat into a rectangular shape, one-half inch thick, on a floured board. Cut with a biscuit cutter one and one-half inches in diameter. Place side by side in a tin pan. Bake in a moderate oven fifteen minutes.

Mix the cucumbers, radishes, onions, salt and pepper. Add salad dressing. Serve on lettuce leaves.

Beat the egg yolks, add the sugar gradually and beat; add the flour, salt, water, lemon juice and rind. Cook in a double boiler until it thickens. Pour into the pastry shell, cover with meringue and bake in a moderate oven until the meringue is brown.

[52]

Cut the lard into the flour and salt with a knife. Add the water gradually, lifting with a knife that portion that was moistened first and pushing it to one side of the bowl, wet another portion and continue until all is moistened, using just enough water to hold together. Put together and place on a floured board. Roll the crust to fit the pan. Press the crust firmly into the bottom of the pan. Prick the sides and bottom with a fork. Crinkle the edges of the crust; have the crust extend above the edge of the pan to make a deep shell for the filling. Bake the crust first to make it more crisp. Do not butter the pan. Bake from five to six minutes in a hot oven. When the crust is done, add the filling and cover this with the meringue.

Do not beat the egg-whites until ready for use. Then beat until stiff and add the sugar and extract, beating only a minute. Pile the meringue lightly on top of the filling, and bake the whole slowly. If baked too quickly, the meringue will rise and then fall. Bake only until it turns a golden brown.

[53]

CHAPTER XIII

"Good for you, Bob! They can't have a single lump in them after that! About the most unappetizing thing I can think of is lumpy mashed potato, or mashed potato that is heavy and unseasoned. More milk? You'd better use plenty. Here! Now watch me toss them lightly into this hot dish and put a little parsley and a lump of butter on the top. There, doesn't that look delicious?"

"I should say so! And look at the fancy tomatoes, each one with a cover! What on earth is inside?"

"Just wait till you taste them; they're a new invention of mine, and I do believe they'll make a splendid luncheon dish for the next time that Ruth is here, or Alice brings her sewing over. I'm practising on you first, you see, and if you survive and seem to like them, I may use them for a real company dish."

"You can't frighten me that way! Creamed chicken?"

"Creamed veal. Don't you remember what we had for dinner last night? There were two chops left and I made it of them. I know it is good when made of cold veal roast, but I had never tried it with cold veal chops—so again I am experimenting on you, Bobby!"

"You don't frighten me so easily as that! I've just caught a glimpse of something that looks like cocoanut cake, and I'll be happy now, no matter how the rest of the dinner tastes!"

[54]

"There, everything is on, Bob! Let's sit down to dinner, and you tell me all about your day!"

Dinner consisted of:

Mix the veal and sauce. Heat and serve hot on rounds of toast.

Wash and peel medium-sized potatoes; cook in boiling water (salted) until tender. (About twenty minutes.) Drain and shake over the fire a minute or two until they are a little dry. Either mash with potato masher, or put through potato ricer. Add butter, salt, paprika and milk. Beat till very light, fluffy and white. Reheat by setting the saucepan in a larger kettle containing boiling water. Place over flame. More milk may be needed. Pile them lightly on the hot dish in which they are to be served.

[55]

Wash the tomatoes thoroughly and cut a slice one inch in diameter from the blossom end, reserving it for future use. Carefully scoop out the pulp, being careful to leave the shell firm. To the tomato pulp, add bread crumbs, left-over vegetables, chopped meat, egg, melted butter, salt and paprika. Cook the mixture four minutes over the fire. Fill the shells with the cooked mixture. Put the slices back on the tomatoes. Place in a small pan and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven.

[56]

CHAPTER XIV

"Why, this is a mixture of green and black tea," said Bettina. "I like that better for iced tea than either kind alone."

"I like tea," said Fred, "although perhaps that isn't considered a manly sentiment in this country. I hope you do too, Ruth. Nothing seems so cozy to me as tea and toast. And I like iced tea like this in the summertime. An uncle of mine is very fond of tea, and has offered to send me some that he considers particularly fine. I believe that Orange Pekoe is his favorite."

"I think that has the best flavor of all," said Bettina, "though just now we are using an English breakfast tea that we like very much. And the green tea mixed with it for this is Japan tea."

"I've heard my uncle say that 'Pekoe' means 'white hair,' and is applied to young leaves because they are covered with a fine white down. Uncle also says that black teas are considered more wholesome than green because they contain less tannin. I tell you, he's a regular connoisseur."

"I see that I must become an expert tea-maker!" said Ruth. "I'm learning something new about Fred every day. Bettina, do tell me exactly how you make tea. Fred can listen, too, unless he already knows."

"Well, let's see, Ruth. I take a level teaspoonful of tea to a cup of water. I put the tea in a scalded earthenware tea-pot—that kind is better than metal—and pour boiling water over it—fresh[57] water. Then I cover it and allow it to steep from three to five minutes. Then I strain and serve it. You know tea should always be freshly made, and never warmed over. It shouldn't be boiled either, not a second. Boiling, or too long steeping, brings out the tannin."

"But how about iced-tea? That has to stand."

"It shouldn't steep, though. I make it just like any tea and strain it. Then I let it cool, and set it on the ice for three or four hours. I serve it with chipped ice, lemon and mint."

"Mother always added a cherry to her afternoon tea," said Ruth.

"That would be great," said Bob. "I don't care much for hot tea, but I believe I would be willing to drink a cup for the sake of the cherry."

"Ruth," said Bettina, "I know now what I will give you for an engagement present since Fred likes tea, too. A silver tea-ball. Surely that will symbolize comfort and fireside cheer."

"Speaking of firesides," asked Bob, "what material have you decided upon for your fireplace? It seems to me that we're talking too much about tea-making, and not enough about house-building."

That evening Bettina served:

[58]

Cooked vegetables may be combined for this salad. Soak the gelatin in cold water a few minutes, add the meat stock or water and stir until the gelatin is thoroughly dissolved. If it is not completely dissolved, heat over a pan of hot water. Add the vegetables in such proportions as desired or convenient. Add the salt, lemon juice and pimento; turn the mixture into a moistened mould. (A ring mould is attractive.) Allow to stand for one hour or more in a cold place. When ready to serve, remove from mould to a chilled plate. If a ringed mould is used, the center may be filled with flaked salmon over which salad dressing has been poured. If the vegetable part is used as a salad, salad dressing may be placed around the vegetables.

Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually, and the egg well beaten. Mix and sift the flour and baking powder and add alternately with the milk. Add the vanilla. Bake in a loaf-cake pan twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

Melt the chocolate, add a little powdered sugar, then water and flavoring and sufficient sugar to allow the icing to spread on cake. Usually one and one-half cups is the necessary amount. Spread on the cake.

[59]

CHAPTER XV

"It's all in the fireless cooker! Why?"

"Couldn't you manage to make a picnic supper of it? One of the men at the office has invited us to go motoring to-night with him and his wife, and, of course, I said we'd be delighted. They're boarding, poor things, and I asked if we couldn't bring the supper. He seemed glad to have me suggest it. I suppose he hasn't had any home cooking for months. Do you suppose you could manage the lunch? How about it?"

"Why, let me think! How soon must we start?"

"We'll be there in an hour or a little less. Don't bother about it—get anything you happen to have."

"It's fine to go, dear. Of course, I'll be ready. Good-bye!"

Bettina's brain was busy. There was a veal loaf baking in one compartment of the cooker, and on the other side, some Boston brown bread was steaming. Her potatoes were cooked already for creaming, and although old potatoes would have been better for the purpose, she might make a salad of them. As she hastily put on some eggs to hard-cook, she inspected her ice box. Yes, those cold green beans, left from last night's dinner, would be good in the salad. What else? "It needs something to give it character," she reflected. "A little canned pimento—and, yes—a few of the pickles in that jar."

Of course, she had salad dressing—she was never without it. Sandwiches? The brown bread would be too fresh and soft for sandwiches, but she could keep it hot, and take some[60] butter along. "I'm glad it is cool to-day. We'll need hot coffee in the thermos bottle, and I can make it a warm supper—except for the salad."

She took the veal loaf and the steamed brown bread from the cooker, and put them into the oven to finish cooking.

"How lucky it is that I made those Spanish buns! And the bananas that were to have been sliced for dessert, I can just take along whole."

When Bettina heard the auto horn, and then Bob's voice, she was putting on her hat.

"Well, Betty, could you manage it?"

"Yes, indeed, dear. Everything is ready. The thermos bottle has coffee in it, piping hot; the lunch basket over there is packed with the warm things wrapped tight, and that pail with the burlap over it is a temporary ice box. It holds a piece of ice, and beside it is the cream for the coffee and the potato salad. It is cool to-day, but I thought it best to pack them that way."

"You are the best little housekeeper in this town," said Bob as he kissed her. "I don't believe anyone else could have managed a picnic supper on such short notice. Come on out and meet Mr. and Mrs. Dixon. May I tell them that they have a fine spread coming?"

"Don't you dare, sir. It's a very ordinary kind of a supper, and even you are apt to be disappointed."

But he wasn't.

Bettina's picnic supper that cool day consisted of:

[61]

Put two crackers in the meat grinder, add bits of meat and pork and the rest of the crackers. The crackers first and last prevent the pork and meat from sticking to the grinder. Add other ingredients in order named. Pack in a well-buttered bread-pan. Smooth evenly on top, brush with white of an egg and bake one hour in a moderate oven. Baste frequently. The meat may be cooked in a fireless cooker between two stones. It is perfectly satisfactory cooked this way, and requires no basting.

Mix and sift dry ingredients, add molasses and liquid. Fill well-buttered moulds two-thirds full, butter the top of mould, and steam three and one-half hours. Remove from moulds and place in an oven to dry ten minutes before serving. 1—If sweet milk is used, 1 T-vinegar to 1¼ C will sour the milk. 2—Baking powder cans, melon moulds, lard pails or any attractively shaped tin cans may be used as a mould. 3—Two methods of steaming are used: (a) Regular steamer in which the mould, either large or individual, is placed over a pan of boiling water. Buttered papers may be tied firmly over the tops of uncovered moulds. (b) Steaming in boiling water. The mould is placed on a small article in the bottom of a pan of boiling water. This enables the water to circulate around the mould. Care must be observed in keeping the kettle two-thirds full of boiling water all of the time of cooking. (Bettina used the method in the fireless cooker.) She started the brown bread in the cooker utensil on the top of the stove. When the water was boiling vigorously, she placed it over one hot stone in the cooker. The water came two-thirds of the distance to the top of her cans. In the cooker, she did not have to watch for fear the water would boil away. After fastening the lid tightly on the cooker-kettle in which the bread was to steam, she did not look at it again for four hours. (It takes a little longer in the cooker than on the stove.)

[62]

CHAPTER XVI

"Why, Mrs. Dixon; how do you do?" she said, as she opened the door and recognized the visitor. "Won't you come in?"

It must be admitted that Bettina was somewhat embarrassed at the unexpected call at so unconventional a time. Mrs. Dixon was dressed in a trim street costume, but under her veil Bettina could see that her eyes were red, and her lips quivered as she answered:

"Forgive me for coming so early, but I just had to. I know you'll think me silly to talk to you confidentially when I met you only yesterday, but I do want your advice about something. You mustn't stop what you are doing. Couldn't I come into the kitchen and talk while you work?"

"Why, my dear, of course you can," said Bettina, trying to put her at her ease. "You can't guess what I was doing! I was washing my pongee dress; someone told me of such a good way!"

"Why, could you do it all yourself?" said Mrs. Dixon, opening her eyes wide. "Why not send it to be dry-cleaned?"

"Of course I might," said Bettina, "but it would be expensive, and I do like to save a little money every month from my housekeeping allowance. There are always so many things I want to get. You see I'm doing this in luke-warm, soapy water—throwing the soap-suds up over the goods, then I'll rinse it well, and hang it in the shade to drip until it gets dry.[63] I won't press it till it is fully dry, because if I do, it will be spotted."

"How do you learn things like that?"

"Oh, since I've been married, and even before, when I thought about keeping house, I began to pick up all sorts of good ideas. I like economizing; it gives me an opportunity to use all the ingenuity I have."

"Does it? I always thought it would be awfully tiresome. You see, I've lived in a hotel all my life; my mother never was strong, and I was the only child. I liked it, and since I've been married, we've lived the same way. I never thought of anything else and I supposed Frank would like it, too—but lately—oh, all the last year—he's been begging me to let him find us a house. And then"—(Bettina saw that her eyes had filled with tears)—"he has been so different. You have no idea, my dear. Why—he hasn't been at home with me two evenings a week—and——"

"You must be dreadfully unhappy," interrupted Bettina, wondering what she could say, since she disliked particularly to listen to any account of domestic difficulties. "But why not try keeping house? Maybe that would be better. Why, Bob doesn't like to be away from home any evenings at all."

"But you've just been married!" said Mrs. Dixon, tactlessly. "Wait and see how he'll be after a few years!"

"Well, that's all the more reason for trying to make him like his home. Have you thought of taking a house?"

"That was just the reason I came to you. You seem to be so happy living this way—and it surprised me. I knew last evening what Frank was thinking when he saw this little house—and then when you unpacked the lunch—tell me honestly, did you cook it yourself?"

"Of course," said Bettina, smiling.

"Wasn't it hard to learn? Why, I can't cook a thing—I can't even make coffee! Frank says if he could only have one breakfast that was fit to eat——" and she buried her face in her handkerchief.

"Why, Mrs. Dixon!" cried Bettina, cheerfully, though her heart was beating furiously. "Your trouble is the easiest one[64] in the world to remedy! Your husband is just hungry—that's all! I'll tell you—we'll make this a little secret between us, and have such fun over it! You do just as I tell you for one month and I'll guarantee that Frank will be at home every single minute that he can!"

"Do you suppose I can learn?"

"I'll show you every single thing. We'll slip out this very day and look for a little house—to surprise Frank! And I'll teach you to cook by easy stages!"

"Oh, will you?" smiled Mrs. Dixon, showing an adorable dimple in her round cheek. "You don't know how much better I feel already! When can we begin?"

"Right now—with coffee—real, sure 'nough coffee that will make Frank's eyes stick out! Have you a percolator?"

"No, but I can get one."

"It isn't necessary at all. I'll tell you how to do without it, and then using one will be perfectly simple."

Scald the coffee pot, add the coffee, cold water and egg-white. Mix thoroughly, add the boiling water. Boil two minutes. Allow to stand in the pot one minute. Serve.

Mix and sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Beat the egg, add the milk; add these liquid ingredients to the dry ones. Beat two minutes. Add the melted butter. Fill well buttered muffin pans one-half full. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.

[65]

CHAPTER XVII

"Fine for you, chef! Have it on the porch, will you? It's the most beautiful morning of the year, I do believe! But you must give me something to do. Let me set the table, will you?"

"Well, you can do that, but get me an apron first. Be sure you get one that'll be becoming!"

Bettina went to a deep drawer in the pantry, of which the breakfast alcove was a part, and selected a white bungalow apron with red dots.

"Here, put your arms through this! There, how 'chic' you look! Bob, do you realize that this is our first breakfast on the porch? I must get some of those feathery things growing out there; I want them for the table. We must celebrate!"

"If having flowers on the table is celebrating, you celebrate every day!"

"Of course, my dear! Our married life is just one long celebration. Haven't you discovered that yet?"

Bettina had thus far no flower garden, but she was never without flowers. The weeds and grasses in her backyard had a way of turning themselves into charming centerpieces, and then, too, red clover was always plentiful.

Bob moved the coffee percolator and the electric toaster to the porch and attached them while Bettina spread the luncheon cloth upon the small table. "Aren't you glad we thought to[66] plan it so that we might have the percolator and the toaster out here?" she said. "That was your idea, wasn't it?"

"Aren't you glad you married me?" said Bob enthusiastically. "I'll bet I'm the only man on this street who can frizzle dried beef and cream it! And make coffee!"

"Who taught you that, I'd like to know? Give some credit to your wife who forces you to do it! Here, Bridget! The grapefruit is in the ice box; did you see it? And the oatmeal in the cooker is waiting to be reheated. Set it in a kettle of water over the fire, so that it won't burn. There are rolls in the bread-box. Put them in the oven a minute to warm up. If they seem dry, dip them quickly in water before heating them. Now shall I be making some toast-rounds for the chipped beef?"

"Well, you might be doing that. I'm getting dizzy with all these orders, ma'am. You can hunt up the cream and the milk and the butter, too, if you will. Now for the beef! Say, but this is going to be a good breakfast! 'Befoh de wah' I used to sleep late on Sundays, but not any more for me! I like to cook!"

"There's someone at the door. I'll go; you're busier than I am."

There on the doorstep beside the Sunday paper stood a little four-year-old neighbor, her hands full of old-fashioned pinks.

"My mother sent these to you," she said.

"Oh, lovely, dear! Thank you! Won't you come in?"

"No'm! My daddy has to shine my shoes for Sunday school."

"Bob, aren't these pretty with the white feathery weeds? I do love flowers!"

"They don't look half so pretty as this 'ere frizzled beef does! Breakfast is all ready!"

Bettina sat down to an open-air breakfast of

[67]

After a jolly and leisurely meal, Bob announced that he was ready to wash the dishes.

"Ever since I've seen that nice white-lined dishpan of yours, I've wanted to try it. It's oval, and I never saw an oval one before."

"I like it because it fits into the sink so well, and fills all the space it can."

"See how efficient I am! I put on the water for the dishes when we sat down to eat! Now I'll have nice hot, soapy water, and lots of it, to rinse them!"

"But don't rinse the glasses, dear. See how I can polish glass and silver that has just come out of that clean soapy water! Look! Isn't that shiny and pretty? There, you can scald everything else!"

"There's the telephone! It's Mrs. Dixon! What on earth can she want? She asked for you!"

Bettina talked for a few moments in monosyllables and then returned to the dishes. "What did she have to say?" Bob asked.

"She asked me not to tell you, Bob. Nothing much. Perhaps you'll know some day."

Bob looked puzzled and slightly hurt. It was the first time that Bettina had kept anything from him and he could not help showing some displeasure.

Bettina saw this, and said: "Bob, I don't want to have any secret from you, and I'd like you to know that this is nothing that I wouldn't tell you gladly if I were the only one concerned. I promised, that's all. You'll smile when you know all about it."

And Bob was mollified.

Put the hot water in the upper part of the double boiler.[68] When boiling, add salt and oats. Boil the mixture for three minutes. Cover and place the upper part in the lower part of the double boiler. Cook over a moderate fire for one hour. Stir occasionally.

Place the butter in a frying-pan, and when the pan is hot and the butter is melted, add the beef separated into small pieces. Allow it to frizzle. Add the flour, mix thoroughly with beef and butter, allowing the flour to brown a little. Add the milk slowly, cooking until thick and smooth. Pour over rounds of toast. Garnish with parsley.

[69]

CHAPTER XVIII

"O Bettina, it's lovely!" cried all the guests in a chorus. "But weren't you awfully extravagant?"

"Wait till I tell you. Perhaps I ought not to give myself away, but I am prouder of our little economies than of anything else; we've had such fun over them. This is some old wicker furniture that Mother had in her attic, all but this chair, that came from Aunt Nell's. Bob mended it very carefully, and then enameled it this dull green color. I have been busy with these cretonne hangings and cushions for a long time, and we have been coaxing along the flowers in our hanging baskets and our window boxes for days and days, so that they would make a good impression on our first porch guests. Bob made the flower boxes himself and enameled them to go with the furniture. This high wicker flower box was a wedding gift, and so was the wicker reading lamp. This matting rug is new, but I must admit that we bought nothing else except this drop-leaf table, which I have been wanting for a long time. You see it will make a good serving table, and then we expect to eat on it in warm weather."

"What are we to make today, Bettina? The invitation has made us all curious.

"What about the little sketches of knives and forks and spoons in the corners?"

"Bob did that. He wrote the verse, too, or I'm afraid I should have telephoned. Are we all here? Wait a minute."

And Bettina wheeled out her tea-cart, on which, among trailing nasturtiums, were mysterious packages wrapped in fringed green tissue paper.

"What is in them? Silver cases—cut and ready to be made! Oh, how cunning! Shall we label them, too? What is the card?

"Did Bob do that, too? The impudence!" and Ruth threaded her needle in preparation.

"You see," said Bettina, "I hadn't found time to make cases for my silver, so I just decided to let you girls help me! The card tells what to label them, in outline stitch in these bright colors. I used to open ten cases at home before I found what I wanted, so I am insuring against that."

Talk and laughter shortened the afternoon, but at five o'clock Bettina wheeled out her tea-cart again. The dainty luncheon was decorated with nasturtiums. The girls laid aside their work while Bettina served:

[71]

Arrange the halves of canned pears, round side up, on lettuce leaves, which curl closely about the pear and have the effect of a hood. Place cloves in the pear for eyes, blanched almonds for ears, and slip thin slices of canned pimento into cuts made for nose and mouth. The expressions may be varied. Put salad dressing around the outside of the pear to represent hair and arrange a bow of red pimento under the chin of the sunbonnet baby. These salads are very effective and easy to make.

Sift together all the dry ingredients, add the nut meats and fruit. Add the milk. Stir well, and pour into two well-buttered loaf pans. Allow to stand and rise for twenty minutes. Bake three-fourths of an hour in a moderate oven. Use bread twenty-four hours old for the sandwiches. "C" sugar is light brown sugar and gives food a delicious flavor.

Boil sugar and water ten minutes. Cool, add lemon juice and strain. Freeze, and when nearly stiff, add beaten egg white and finish freezing.

Boil the sugar and water without stirring until it threads when dropped from the spoon. Pour slowly into the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly. Beat until it holds its shape. Add the flavoring and spread on the cake.

Arrange the sunbonnet babies on a salad platter, and let the[72] guests help themselves. The salad is light and attractive. The stem end of the pear represents the neck. Cream the butter to be used for sandwiches. It spreads more evenly and goes farther. Sandwiches taste better if allowed to stand for several hours, wrapped securely in a napkin which has been well dampened (not wet). Cut the slices very thin and press together firmly. Cut into fancy shapes.

[73]

CHAPTER XIX

"Then we haven't much to quarrel about, have we, Betty? That is true in more than one sense. But I'm sure that this way seems to suit us to a T."

"I'm even saving money, Bob."

"I don't see how you can when you give me such good things to eat, and when we have so much company."

"Well, I plan ahead, you know—plan for my left-overs before they are left, even. I do think that an instinct for buying and planning is better than an instinct for cooking. And either one can be cultivated. But it was certainly hard to get that budget of expenses fixed satisfactorily, wasn't it? I told Ruth that no two families are alike, and that I couldn't tell her just what they ought to spend for clothes, or just what groceries ought to cost. After all, it is an individual matter which things are necessities and which are luxuries. The chief thing is to live within your means, and save as well as invest something—and at the same time be comfortable and happy. I told Ruth we started with the fixed sums and the absolute necessities,[74] and worked backward. I told her they must absolutely be saving something, if only a quarter a week. Then, that Fred must manage the budget of expenses that comes within his realm, and not interfere with hers, and that she must do the same with the household expenditures, and not worry him. It takes a lot of adjusting to make the system work satisfactorily, but it is certainly worth it."

"Did you tell Ruth about the envelope system that my sister Harriet, uses? She says she is so careless naturally that when George gives her her allowance each month, she has to put the actual cash in separate envelopes, and then vow to herself that she will not borrow from the gas money to make the change for the grocer-boy, and so forth. That is the only way she can teach herself."

"My cousin's wife used to keep the most wonderful and complete accounts, but she couldn't tell without a lot of work in hunting up the items how much she already had spent for groceries or clothes or anything. She had to change her method, and it was she who taught me to keep my accounts in parallel columns, a page for a week, because you give me my allowance each week. I like this way so much, for I can tell at a glance how my expenses are comparing with the allotted sum."

"I like to look at your funny, neat little notebook, Bettina, all ruled so carefully for the week, and the headings, such as gas, electricity, groceries, meat, milk, laundry, across the top."

"Don't make fun of my notebook. I couldn't keep house without it. In case of fire, I'd save it first of all, I know! It is almost like a diary to me! I can look back over it and remember, 'That was the day Bob brought Mr. Green home and we almost ran out of potatoes!' Or 'This was the day I thought my brown bread had failed, but Bob seemed to like it!'" she exaggerated.

"Failures in cooking! Why, Bettina, I don't know the meaning of the words! And I don't see how you can feed me so well on the sum I give you for the purpose. I'd feel guilty, only you don't look a bit unhappy or overworked."

"I should say not!"

[75]

"You surely don't remember how to cook all the things you give me!"

"No, indeed, Bob, not definitely, that is. You see, on the shelf by my account book, which you smile over, I have my card index with lots and lots of recipes filed away. Then I have notebooks, too, with all sorts of suggestions tucked in them just where I can lay my hand on them."

"Betty dear, you've given me a real glimpse into your business-like methods! Some men seem to think that it doesn't take brains to run a house well, but they don't know. It requires just as much executive ability and common sense as it does to manage a big business."

That night the dinner for two consisted of:

Add the sugar and salt to the scalded milk and when lukewarm, add the yeast dissolved in the lukewarm water, and three-fourths of a cup of flour. Cover and set in a warm place to rise. Then add the melted butter, the well-beaten egg, and enough flour to knead. Let rise in a warm place. Roll to one-half an inch in thickness and shape with a biscuit cutter. Butter the top of each. Fold over, place in a buttered pan, close together. Let rise again for forty-five minutes and then bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes.

[76]

Cut the stem ends from the peppers, and remove all seeds; add one-eighth of a teaspoonful of soda to each pepper, fill with water and allow to stand one-half hour. Mix one cup of white sauce with the rice, onions, chopped pepper and paprika. Fill the pepper cases and bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and continue creaming. Add the egg yolks, melted chocolate, molasses, sour milk, hot water, flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Beat two minutes, and add the stiffly beaten egg whites. Fill well-buttered muffin pans one-half full, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes. Serve hot as a dessert, with whipped cream.

[77]

CHAPTER XX

"Oh, but he will!" Bettina assured her. "He'll think he's the luckiest man in town, and I almost believe that he is! He'll love that dear little white house with the screened porch! Why, the very grass looks as if it longed to spell 'Welcome' like some of the door mats I've seen! And think of the flower boxes! You were very fortunate to rent it for a year, furnished so nicely, and probably when that time is up you'll be ready to build or buy one of your own."

"You are a dear to cheer me up this way, but I'm nervous in spite of you. Perhaps I should have consulted Frank before I promised to take the house."

"But he has been urging you to keep house for so long! And I know he'll be grateful to you for sparing him the worry of hunting one himself. Besides, he'll like being surprised."

"Well, I'll go back to the hotel for luncheon with him, and then I'll phone him later to meet me at the house. I won't tell him a thing; I'll just give him the address. I'll say it's very, very important. That will surprise him and perhaps will frighten him a little. He never does leave his office during business hours, but it will take only a few minutes for him to run out here in the car. Goodness, I'm forgetting what I came for! Do you suppose I am too stupid to try to make those Spanish buns Frank liked so much? We had them at the picnic, you know. I have three hours after luncheon until he comes, and I just long to give him some good coffee and some[78] Spanish buns that I've made myself! That little kitchen looks as if it would be so nice to work in! I tried coffee a little while ago over at the house, and really—it was fine! It looked just like yours! I was so surprised! To think of my doing such things!"

"Of course you could make Spanish buns; it would be fine if you would. I'll tell you,—why not let me come over for an hour right after luncheon and superintend? Then I'll slip home so that you can be alone when Frank comes. I could tell you some other things about cooking while we're there together,—things you may write down in your new notebook. For example, I've often wondered that so few housekeepers can make good white sauce."

"What in the world is that?"

"It's used in cream soups, and it's the cream part of creamed vegetables and meat and fish, and then there is a thicker white sauce that is used to bind croquettes—that is, hold the ingredients together. There are really four kinds of white sauces and they are very simple to make. I think everyone should know the right way to make them, for they are useful in preparing so many good things."

"I'm glad we'll be near you because I can ask you so many questions."

"And I'm glad that it is summer, because you can have so many things that require little or no cooking, and by fall, I'm sure you will be an accomplished housekeeper."

"Will you come over at two, then, or earlier if you can?"

"Of course I will!"

And as Mrs. Dixon hurried away Bettina felt a sympathetic thrill at the happiness two other people were about to find.

[79]

Cream the butter and sugar, add the egg yolk. Mix and sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves; add these and the milk to the first mixture. Beat one minute. Add the vanilla and the stiffly beaten egg white. Bake in well buttered muffin pans twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Ice with confectioner's icing.

Mix the cream and vanilla, add sugar slowly until the consistency to spread (more sugar may be needed). This is a most satisfactory frosting and is easily and quickly made. It is suitable for hot weather.

This is the consistency for creamed soups.

This white sauce is used for creamed vegetables, creamed fish, etc.- This amount is required for two cups of vegetables.

This sauce is used for oyster or other patties.

This is called a binding white sauce and is used to hold other ingredients together.

[80]

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour and salt, stirring constantly. When well mixed add the liquid, a little at a time. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. This is far better than mixing the flour with a little of the liquid when cold, as so many people do when creaming potatoes or other things. If the white sauce seems too thick for the purpose, thin with a little more liquid before removing from the fire.

[81]

CHAPTER XXI

"If Bob would only come home early, how nice it would be!" she thought. "Perhaps that's he at the telephone now."

However, it proved to be Mrs. Dixon. "I phoned to ask you if I should throw away the yolks of two eggs. I've just used the whites."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Dixon! Beat them up well, and add a little cold water to them. Then set them in the ice-box. They will be just as good later as they would be now. You may want them for salad dressing or something else."

"If I ever have the white of the egg left, shall I treat that the same way?"

"No, don't beat that up at all, nor add any water. Just set it in the refrigerator as it is. I'm so glad you called up, Mrs. Dixon. Will you and your husband take dinner with us next Sunday? Perhaps we might all go to church first."

"We'd love to do that! I've just been worrying over Sunday dinner, and you've restored my peace of mind. But won't it be a great deal of work for you?"

"I won't let it be. I don't believe in those heavy, elaborate Sunday dinners that take all the morning to prepare. We'll just come home from church and have it in half an hour. You may help me."

[82]

"We'd love to come. I have so much to tell you. I've been very busy, but Frank has helped, and it has been such fun! You don't know how he enjoys the little house! Well, good-bye till tomorrow!"

"Boo!" shouted Bob in her ear, as she hung up the receiver. "I discovered your dark secret this morning! Frank Dixon told me!"

"Well, what did you think of it?"

"The only possible solution in that case. You are their good angel—that is, if she doesn't poison Frank with her cooking, or burn the house down when she's lighting the fire."

"She won't, don't worry! She takes to housekeeping as if she had always done it. Her house is immaculate; she has been cleaning and dusting and polishing from morning to night. I'm almost ashamed of mine!"

"I'm not!" said Bob, decidedly. "I don't see how you can keep it clean at all with a man like me scattering papers and cigar ashes everywhere. And I'm always losing my belongings, and always will, I suppose."

"That's only a sign that we haven't discovered the proper place for them all yet. But we'll work it out in time. Well, are you hungry?"

"Hungry? I should say so! Why, I could almost eat you!"

"Well, Bob, we have a rainy-day dinner tonight that I hope you'll enjoy. Hash! Does that frighten you?"

"Not your hash, Betty."

"Well, everything is ready."

The rainy evening menu consisted of:

[83]

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Spread the mixture evenly in a hot frying-pan in which the fat has been placed. Cook without stirring until a crust is formed on the bottom; fold over like an omelet and place on a hot platter.

Separate cauliflower into sections, wash well and cook in boiling salted water until tender. (About half an hour.) Drain and cover with vegetable white sauce.

Mix the sugar, dates, baking powder, flour and salt. Add milk in which one egg has been beaten. Beat two minutes. Add butter, melted. Fill well-buttered muffin pans half full of the mixture, and place in the oven. Bake twenty minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually. Stir well. Add the well-beaten egg. Mix the soda and apple-sauce, and add to the first ingredients. Alternately with the flour and spices, add the vanilla and fruit. Beat for two minutes. Turn into a square pan, and sift granulated sugar over the top. Bake in a moderate oven one-half hour.

[84]

CHAPTER XXII

"You talk to him," said Mrs. Dixon. "I don't know a thing about a refrigerator; that's why I begged you to come."

"Well," considered Bettina, her red brown head on one side, "we want one that will hold not less than a hundred pounds of ice. The large ones are much more economical in the long run. Here, Mrs. Dixon, is a hundred-pound fellow. May we examine it, please?"

"Certainly, madam."

"No, this won't do. See, Mrs. Dixon, the trap is in the bottom of the food chamber. That is wasteful and inconvenient, because in cleaning it you would have to leave the door of the larger compartment open. That would let the cold air out and waste the ice. Anyhow, you know the trap is the sewer of the refrigerator, and has no business in the food chamber. The trap really ought to be in the bottom of the ice chamber, where it can be cleaned without removing the food, or opening the door of the food compartment. Besides, I prefer to have the ice put in at a door on the side of the front, not on the top. Yes, here is the kind I mean. I like this trap, too. See, Mrs. Dixon, isn't it fine? It has a white enamel lining and shelves of open wire that can be removed."

"It looks nice, doesn't it? And when I get some white shelf paper on those shelves it will be like an attractive cupboard."

"Oh, my dear! You mustn't do that! That would prevent the circulation of air through the ice-box, which is the very[85] thing that makes the food compartment cold. You see, that circulation of air goes on through these open-wire shelves. Another thing, I've seen people cover the ice with newspapers to keep it from melting, as they thought. But they were mistaken. Any friction causes warmth, and ice keeps better when there is nothing touching it."

"Well, if you like this one, I'll ask the price of it."

"It will be expensive, I'm afraid, but the most economical in the long run. Are you staying downtown to meet Mr. Dixon?"

"Yes, I'd like him to see the refrigerator. He takes such an interest in these household things I'm getting."

"Well, good-bye, dear. I must hurry home to get dinner. It won't take long, but I'll have to go, or Bob will get there first, and I'm a little sentimental about being there to greet him at the door."

Bettina's dinner that night consisted of:

Wipe chops and place in a red-hot frying-pan. As soon as the under surface is seared, turn and sear the other side. Turn down the fire a little, and continue to cook, turning chops often. Cook seven minutes if liked rare. When cooked, sprinkle with salt and spread with butter.

Shell one quart of peas, cover with cold water and let stand ten minutes, wash well, and drain off the water. Cover with boiled water and cook twenty to fifty minutes, according to age[86] of peas. A pinch of soda may be added to the water. It softens the skins on the peas. Add salt when the peas have cooked twenty minutes.

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt, mixing well, and the milk, stirring constantly. Cook two minutes. Add the peas.

Add the water slowly to the flour and mix well. Add the rhubarb sauce and cook until very thick (about five minutes). Add the stiffly beaten white of egg, mix thoroughly and turn into moistened moulds. Serve cold with cream.

[87]

CHAPTER XXIII

"Don't get your hopes too high!" said Bettina. "Though I will promise you one treat, wild roses on the table. Bob and I walked out into the country last evening and found them."

"What can I do?" inquired Mrs. Dixon, when she and Bettina were alone in the kitchen.

"You can sit here and talk to me while these potatoes are cooking and the veal birds getting done. You see, the birds have already cooked three-quarters of an hour this morning before I went to church. The waxed beans are in the fireless cooker; I have to make the butter sauce for them. And you see I have the new potatoes all prepared, standing in cold water. I have only to cook them in boiling salted water till they are done. That won't take long, as they aren't large. I set the table on the porch this morning. Bob can make the coffee in the percolator in a little while, when we're ready. He usually starts it when we come to the table, and then it is ready in time to serve last. By the way, if you like the Thousand Island dressing we are to have for the head lettuce, I'd like to give you the recipe. It is a very popular one just now."

[88]

"Oh, I've eaten it! Frank is very fond of it, and used to order it every chance he had at the hotel. Will you really tell me how to make it? So many good dinners now end with the salad and cheese and coffee, and I think Thousand Island dressing on head lettuce makes a splendid salad."

"Of course I'll show you. Well, the iced cantaloupe, which is our first course, is in the ice-box. Our dessert today is just cake with chocolate cream frosting, and coffee. It is such a simple Sunday dinner, but that's the kind I believe in!"

Cut veal from the round (veal steak) into strips, four by two and a half inches. Put the trimming and four slices of bacon through the food chopper. Cook the chopped meat three minutes in the butter. Add to this the fresh bread crumbs, salt, pepper and milk. Spread this mixture on the strips of veal. Roll and tie securely with white cord, roll in flour and sauté until browned a little on both sides, in two tablespoons fat in frying pan. Place in a casserole or small covered pan. Season each bird with salt and a small piece of butter. Pour an inch and a half of water into the pan. Cook an hour, or a little less, in a moderate oven. Gravy may be made by adding four tablespoons of water to two level tablespoons of flour,[89] mixing carefully and gradually pouring into the stock in which the meat has been cooked. Bring to a boil.

Place all the above ingredients in a pint fruit jar, fit a rubber on the jar cover, and shake vigorously until the dressing is well mixed and creamy. Pour over tomatoes, asparagus, peas, beans, spinach or lettuce. Serve as a salad.

Cream the butter, add the sugar, yolk of egg, dry ingredients and milk. Stir well, add the flavoring, beat two minutes, cut and fold in the egg white. Bake in a large round buttered pan in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. The pan should be seven inches in diameter. Cover with confectioner's icing.

Mix vanilla and milk, add powdered sugar. Mix until stiff enough to spread. Cut creams in half and arrange on the cake.

[90]

CHAPTER XXIV

"Not now. You see, I've been practicing every evening with Frank, and he says that I am as good a driver as he is! Oh, Bettina, we are having so much fun these days! The little house is a great success, and I'm really learning to cook! I've had some dreadful failures; but Frank doesn't seem to mind. You see, I know he gets a good meal downtown at noon, and so I don't worry about him."

"Look, Charlotte! What lovely goldenrod! We must stop and get some! Don't you love it?"

"Indeed I do! I have a rough brown waste-paper basket that it looks stunning in. I set the jar of goldenrod right inside! Frank is very fond of it."

"Charlotte, you're just like a bride yourself—thinking about Frank's likes and dislikes."

"Am I?" laughed Mrs. Dixon as her color rose. "Well, lately Frank seems just like his old self! He appreciates everything so, and is so nice at home! And it seems that he can hardly get home quickly enough! We have enjoyed getting things settled and planning our future. Next year we may build a house of our own, but I don't care to have it too large to manage easily."

"Are you going to stop here?" asked Bettina, as Mrs. Dixon slowed down after a peaceful stretch of level road.

"Yes, I want to show you something."

[91]

A short path led to a small house close to the road, but almost hidden in a tangle of flowers and wild grapevines.

"Isn't this a cunning little rustic place?" asked Charlotte. "Two friends of mine started it. See" (pointing to the sign over the door), "it's called 'The Friendly Inn.' Inside you'll find that quotation about living in a house at the side of the road and being a friend to every man. You know that one. These girls live on that farm over there. When they came home from college they wanted something to do—some way to earn money—but they didn't care to leave home. This is such a splendid road that the autos swarm past all summer long. These girls opened this little tea room, and serve luncheons and tea here all summer. Most of their supplies come directly from the farm. It is just a pleasant drive from the city, and many people like to come out here in the afternoon. I'll introduce you to the girls."

Bettina found the inn-keepers charming, and after a short conversation, she and Mrs. Dixon ordered:

Wash cold firm tomatoes of a uniform size. Cut a slice from the stem end and scoop out seeds and pulp. Save the pulp. Sprinkle the inside with salt. Invert for five minutes. Mix the cucumber, green pepper, radishes, onions, tomato pulp, and salad dressing. Fill with the mixture and refill the shells. Have all of the ingredients cold and serve at once. If the mixture stands in the tomato cups very long it becomes watery. The tomatoes may be prepared and kept cool, and the mixture[92] prepared, all but the onion, and placed in the ice-box until ready for use. Never put anything containing onion in the ice-box. Serve the tomatoes on crisp lettuce leaves.

Mix the sugar, flour and salt. Add the square of chocolate and boiling water. Allow to boil four minutes, stirring constantly. Add the butter and vanilla. Serve hot or cold with ice cream.

Use any white cake recipe. Bake in gem pans. Cover with White Mountain cream icing. Just before the icing is ready to spread, add quartered marshmallows. Do not add the marshmallows while the icing is hot, as they will melt, and the little "bumps" are attractive when spread on the cake.

[93]

CHAPTER XXV

Bettina smiled to herself at Bob's casual tone. Ought she to ask him not to invite company without consulting her?

"No!" she decided emphatically. "Company or no company, our meals shall be simple, but good enough for anybody. I'll not change my menu for Alice and Mr. Harrison. I'm sure they'll like it just as it is."

"To tell the truth, Bettina," said Alice's vivacious voice over the telephone, "I'd love to come, if it weren't for that—that man!"

"But, Alice, you're going to see him later."

"I know; worse luck! He's the most insufferable person I know! You see, last night we had a little argument, and he was very rude."

"Maybe he's coming to apologize."

"Don't you imagine it! He couldn't. He dislikes society girls above all other people."

"Oh, Alice!"

"Well, he does! He told me so evening before last, out at the park."

"Seems to me you're seeing a good deal of him for a man you feel that way about."

"Well, you started it. You told me that he was a woman-hater, and I thought it would be fun to reform him. At first[94] he thought me fine and sensible, but lately I've been showing him how frivolous I really am. I suppose I hoped that by this time he'd approve of everything I said and did. But he won't. He seems actually to be trying to reform me! And I won't be reformed! I could never be anything but frivolous Alice if I wanted to! I hate those big, slow, serious men, without any fun in them!"

"Cheer up, my dear!" laughed Bettina. "Come tonight, anyhow. I like the frivolous kind, whether he does or not."

That evening, much to Bettina's secret amusement, Mr. Harrison and Alice met on the doorstep.

"Don't think we came together," explained Alice, flippantly. "A dinner and an evening of me are about all Mr. Harrison can endure!"

"I couldn't have spared the time, anyhow, Miss Alice. You see, I'm a busy man, and the people who are doing worth-while things in this world are obliged to overlook some of the amenities."

It was on Bettina's tongue to inquire how a busy man found time to make so many calls as he was making now. But she refrained, knowing well that lively Alice could hold her own with any man in the universe, even though she might not be doing the things that Mr. Harrison considered worth while.

"A fine dinner," said he to Bettina, as they sat down at the table. "I admire a woman who knows how to prepare and serve food. She is paying her way in the most dignified and worth-while profession of all—that of a home-maker."

"Mr. Harrison," asked Alice severely, "may I inquire whether or not you know how to drive insects out of cabbage before serving it?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Well, I'm surprised, for even I know that. Bettina just told me. You place the cabbage, head downward, in cold water, to each quart of which has been added a tablespoonful of vinegar."

"Silly Alice!" said Bettina. "Don't tease! Look at my lovely pansies. Alice, I believe you gave me that flower-holder when I announced my engagement."

[95]

"When I announce my engagement——" said Alice.

Bettina saw a strange and startled look come over Mr. Harrison's face, which immediately departed when Alice added:

"Which will be years hence, no doubt—I hope my friends will give me nothing useful. I love to come here, Bettina, but I'm not a natural-born housekeeper like you. I shall marry an idle millionaire, and we will do nothing but travel aimlessly about from one end of the world to the other. That is my idea of perfect happiness!"

That night for dinner Bettina served:

Wipe the chops, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a hot frying-pan (no fat added), brown on one side and then turn on the other side, cooking over a moderate fire. Add the water and immediately place the cover on the frying-pan. The steam cooks the pork more quickly and prevents over-browning. Cook twenty-five minutes.

Cream the butter, add the lemon juice, salt, pepper and finely chopped parsley. Pour this over new potatoes which have been boiled. Garnish with parsley.

[96]

Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt with the cold water. Add the milk slowly, stirring well. Cook twenty minutes in a double boiler, stirring occasionally, or ten minutes over the flame, stirring constantly. Cool slightly and add the shredded cocoanut and the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs. Add the vanilla. One-fourth of a cup of nuts, candied cherries or preserved pineapple may be added if desired. Chill in moulds wet with cold water. Serve with cream or custard sauce made from the egg yolks.

Beat the eggs, slowly add the sugar and the flour well blended, the salt and the milk. Cook in a double boiler until thick enough to coat a silver spoon. Add the flavoring and serve cold.

[97]

CHAPTER XXVI

"Hello, Charlotte!" said Bettina, quickly. "What in the world is the trouble?"

"The worst yet!" came a nervous voice. "Frank's Aunt Isabel is to be at our house tonight! Oh, I wish you knew her! She never did approve of me!"

"Oh, Charlotte, you just imagine that! She wouldn't come if she disliked you so!"

"That's just it! She didn't approve of me when we lived at the hotel, and now that we've taken a house, she wants to see how things are."

"Well, things are fine! Doesn't Frank say so?"

"Yes, of course. But the meals! Two company meals to get, and for a critical person like her, too! What on earth shall I do?"

"Now, don't be nervous, Charlotte! It's easy! We'll think up a delicious little dinner that you can prepare mostly beforehand. When does she arrive?"

"Five o'clock, and leaves just after breakfast."

"Good! Two simple meals and all day in which to get them ready. Let's see. The weather is warm, so you will prefer a dinner that is partly cold. Watermelon that has been in the refrigerator all day would be a simple dessert, with no cake or anything else to think of. How about cold boiled[98] tongue for your main dish? Sliced thin and garnished with parsley. You might also have a very good salad. Apple, celery and green pepper salad would be delicious and economical also. Then you might have corn on the cob. I've had it recently and know how good it is. That would be the only thing you would have to think of at meal time, and it is very easy to cook. You would serve it in a napkin to keep it hot. Then I want to send you some peach butter that I made the other day; that would go beautifully with your dinner. There you have it all! If I were doing it, I should add iced tea to drink, served very daintily, with sliced lemon and mint leaves."

"Oh, Bettina, how good it sounds! Will you repeat that menu for me?"

"Now, if you'll get a pencil and paper, I will give you some directions about cooking."

Wipe the tongue well. Place in a kettle and cover with cold water. Add the vinegar. Bring to a boil, and boil slowly until it seems tender when pierced with a fork. (It should boil at least two hours.) Take the tongue from the water, and remove the skin and roots while it is still warm. Cool, and slice thin. This may easily be cooked in the fireless cooker, in which case the water with which the tongue is covered must be brought to a good boil on the stove, and then removed to the cooker. If the tongue is very salty, soak in cold water for two hours.

[99]

Mix the lemon juice and apples to prevent discoloring. Add the celery, green peppers, salt, paprika seasoning and salad dressing. Serve cold on lettuce leaves.

Carefully remove husks and all silk from the corn. Cover with boiling water. Cook ten minutes, or longer if the corn is old. If salt is added to water, it turns the corn yellow and toughens the husks. Very tender young corn needs little cooking. Salt may be added (one teaspoon to a quart of water) two minutes before removing from the fire.

Peel peaches and slice very fine. Add one cup of sugar to every two cups of peaches. Let stand twenty minutes. Mix well, and cook quickly for twenty-five minutes. Put in glasses and seal.

[100]

CHAPTER XXVII

"The door was partly open—Bob must have left it that way—and I slipped in quickly to see what you were up to. It's raining as if it never intended to stop. I called to Bob on his way downtown, and asked what you were doing today. He said that wonderful baking preparations were going on because you expected his sister Polly and her three children tomorrow. That sounded like a deluge—all those lively youngsters, and Polly livelier yet—so, I came over to see if I couldn't help."

"Indeed you can, Ruth! That was dear of you! We'll have a houseful, won't we? I have planned to put Polly and Dorothy and the baby in the guest room, but Donald will have to sleep on the davenport. And I'm planning to do most of the cooking today, so that tomorrow we can visit and see people and show the children the sights. They are coming this afternoon, and will be here Sunday and Monday at least. As soon as I finish filling these salt-shakers, I'll begin the baking. Goodness, it will certainly be a help to have you here, Ruth! You were such a dear to come in all this rain!"

"Oh, I like it! I always learn so much from you, Bettina. But what on earth are you doing with that rice?"

"Just putting a few grains in the shakers. You know salt gets damp on a rainy day like this, and the rice loosens it and absorbs the moisture. I'm doing it first because I might forget."

"What are you going to make?"

"Well, I'll cook some potatoes and beets to warm up or make salad of, and I'll make a veal loaf and a white cake, I[101] think. Then some salad dressing, and a berry pie and some sour cream cookies. Oh, yes, some nut-bread and some tomato gelatin, too."

"Goodness! Can you use all those things?"

"Yes, indeed! For tonight's dinner I'll have lamb chops, and some of the cooked potatoes, creamed, and tomato gelatin, and the blackberry pie. (You know berry pies ought to be eaten soon after they are made.) If tomorrow is a nice day, we'll eat our dinner in the park, and in any case, I'll be prepared, for I'll have the veal loaf, and the beets to warm up, and the rest of the potatoes to cream or make salad of, and the nut-bread for sandwiches if we need them, and the cake and some sliced peaches for dessert."

"And the cookies?"

"Well, children always want cookies. I'll bake these on my big baking sheets just the size of the oven, and I'll put lots of raisins on top."

"Bettina, what fun it would be to visit you! But we must get at our work or Polly and family will be here before this big baking is done!"

Wash the fruit, mix with the sugar, flour, salt and lemon juice. Line a deep pie tin with a plain pie paste and sprinkle one tablespoon sugar over bottom crust. Add the berry mixture. Wet the lower crust slightly. Roll out the upper crust and make slits in the middle to allow the steam to escape. Place on the lower crust, pinching the edges together. Bake in a moderately hot oven forty minutes.

Simmer tomatoes, water, sugar, bay leaf, cloves, and salt[102] for ten minutes. Strain. Soak the gelatin in two tablespoons cold water, and add the hot vegetable mixture. Pour into small wet moulds. Chill for two hours and serve with salad dressing.

Beat egg-yolks thoroughly and add the dry ingredients (mixed and sifted). Gradually add the vinegar and water. Cook in a double boiler until thick and creamy, or directly over small flame, stirring constantly. If whipped cream is to be used, no butter need to be added. If not, add butter the last thing. Beat with a Dover egg beater until creamy. Keep in a cool place.

Cream the fat, add the sugar. Cream again. Add the eggs well beaten, sour milk, one cup flour, soda, salt and nutmeg mixed and sifted together. Add the rest of the flour. Roll out to one-third of an inch thickness, cut any desired shape, and bake in a moderately hot oven for fifteen minutes. Sugar mixed with a little flour may be sifted over the dough before cutting. Raisins may also be pressed into the top of each cooky.

Mix the beaten egg and sugar, add the milk, flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder, sifted together. Take one-half of the dough, and roll out one-third of an inch thick. Cut with a doughnut cutter. Roll and cut the other half. Put the scraps together and roll again. Fry in deep fat, turning until a delicate brown. Drain on brown paper.

[103]

CHAPTER XXVIII

"I like Aunt Betty's cereal; it looks so pretty," explained little Dorothy gravely, looking down at her plate of moulded cereal surrounded by plump red raspberries.

"I hope you don't mind my serving it cold today," said Bettina. "It seemed so warm yesterday that I cooked the cereal and put it in moulds in the refrigerator."

"No indeed! The change is a regular treat for the children. They like fixed-up things like this, and it certainly does give anyone an appetite."

"Well, in hot weather, no one feels much like eating, anyhow, so I try to make things as attractive as I can. And I want the children to have just what they like.... You needn't be afraid of this cream, Polly. We buy it from a neighbor, and I am absolutely sure that it is both clean and good. I'm ashamed to say that we have no certified milk in this town. Isn't that dreadful? And people keep on buying it of dairies that they don't know one thing about! Why, I've seen women who had just moved to town, and who knew nothing about conditions here, begin housekeeping by cleaning house thoroughly from top to bottom, and at the same time, leave an order for milk with the first dairy wagon that happened to drive down their street! And they buy groceries and meat from the nearest stores without knowing that three blocks[104] away there may be other stores that are better, cleaner and less expensive. Shouldn't you think that women would insist upon knowing all about the food they are giving their children? It seems to me that much common sense in a housewife is a great deal more important even than knowing how to cook and sew."

"I think that knowing how to plan and buy is more important than knowing how to do things with your hands," said Polly. "After all, it's the result that counts. You're a wonder, Bettina, because you have a useful head and useful hands, too, but I haven't. So I try to know as much as possible about every article of food and clothing that I buy, and to be sure that I am getting the very best value from Tom's money, but I don't know how to cook or sew or trim hats or embroider. I like friends and babies and outdoor exercise, but I'll confess that I don't like housework."

"Well, Tom and the children seem to be perfectly contented and happy, and so do you. Therefore, you are a successful housekeeper."

"You are the right kind of a sister-in-law to have, Betty! I quite approve of Bob's choice!"

The breakfast that morning consisted of:

Cook the wheat according to the instructions on the package, only cook twice as long as the directions suggest. Mix cereal and cold water. Add boiling water slowly. This method prevents lumping. Wet individual moulds with cold water, place raspberries around the inside of the mould and fill with the wheat. Allow to remain in mould for fifteen minutes.[105] Remove from mould, surround with more berries and serve. If desired cold, chill in the refrigerator. Cereals may be cooked in a double boiler or a fireless cooker.

Put the water and salt in the upper part of double boiler and place directly over the flame. When the water boils, add the cereal very slowly, stirring constantly. Cook for five minutes directly over the fire. Place the upper part in the lower part of the double boiler containing boiling water, and cook the required time. All cereals must be thoroughly cooked.

[106]

AUGUST.

[107]

CHAPTER XXIX

"Bettina, O, Bettina! We've come to get you to play tennis with us this morning. You must! You've been neglecting us for Bob and we're jealous."

"Oh, girls, I simply can't! I have just bought quarts and quarts of cherries and currants of a boy who came to the door, and I must take today to put them up!"

"That's easy! Leave 'em till tomorrow!" said Alice cheerfully.

"I can't do that, because they're just at the canning point and it isn't a good thing to have them a bit over-ripe. Then these are freshly picked, and that is the best way to have them."

"I'll stay and help; may I?" said Ruth, who had suddenly developed a deep interest in things domestic.

"Why, of course I'd love to have you, Ruth, but seeding cherries is slow work, and I believe that playing tennis would be more exciting."

"But not half so interesting as to hear you tell me how you do things. I love to listen."

[108]

"We'll all stay," suggested Mary. "It'll do us good. But you'll have to lend us big aprons; can you?" And she looked down at her white middy, skirt, and shoes.

"Come on!" shouted Elsie. "You can lecture as we seed cherries, Bettina. How are you going to put them up?"

"Well, Bob likes plain currant jelly, and plain canned cherries awfully well. I may preserve some cherries with currant juice, too, but I think I'll not do anything very elaborate today."

"Goodness, that sounds elaborate enough to suit me! Will you be looking over the currants while we are stoning cherries?"

"Leave the stones in half of them, girls; many people like them that way better."

"What were you doing to all those jars?"

"Just getting ready to sterilize them. You see I'll put them on a folded cloth, in this big kettle of cold water. Then I'll slowly heat the water to the boiling point, and fill the jars immediately with the fruit and syrup. I must scald the rubber rings, too, before I use them."

Bettina was rapidly looking over currants as she talked. "Girls, do you notice my jelly strainer? See, it's a piece of cheese-cloth fastened into a wire strainer. It can be attached to any kettle. I haven't used it yet, but I know that it will be very convenient. You know it's best to strain the juice through the cheese-cloth without pressure. If I have the cloth double, the juice will be quite clear. If I wanted an especially clear jelly, I could even have the juice pass through a flannel or felt bag."

"How on earth can you tell when the jelly jells?" asked Ruth.

"Well, I test it this way. I take up, in a cold silver spoon, a little of the mixture that is cooking. If it jells and breaks from the spoon, it has been cooking long enough. Of course I remove the rest from the fire while testing it, because it might be done."

"Bettina, cooking and jelly-making and things like that seem to be so natural for you!" cried Ruth. "I get so frightened[109] sometimes when I think what if I should be a poor housekeeper and make Fred unhappy!"

"Alice," said Mary, "Heaven forbid that either of us should ever be talking like that about a man!"

"Goodness, I should say so!" declared Alice emphatically, a little too emphatically, thought Bettina.

Pick over currants, but do not remove the stems. Wash and drain. Mash a few with a vegetable masher in the bottom of a porcelain-lined or granite kettle. Add more currants and mash. Continue adding currants until all are used. Bring to a boil slowly and let simmer without stirring until the currants appear white. Strain through a coarse strainer, and allow juice to drain through a jelly bag. Measure the juice, and boil ten minutes. Gradually add an equal amount of heated sugar, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, and continue boiling until the test shows that the mixture has jelled. When filling sterilized glasses, place them in a pan containing a little boiling water. This keeps the glasses from breaking when hot jelly is poured in. Fill and set the glasses of jelly aside to cool. Cover with hot melted paraffin.

Measure the cherries after the stems have been removed. Stone if desired. If they are stoned, be sure to save the juice. Put the sugar and water in a kettle and stir over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cherries and heat slowly to the boiling point. Boil ten minutes skimming carefully. Put into sterilized jars, filling the jars to overflowing with the syrup. Seal securely. (When filling the jars stand them in a pan containing boiling water. This keeps them from breaking.)

[110]

[111]

CHAPTER XXX

"First let me deliver these nasturtiums that mother sent," said Ruth. "She always remembers how fond you are of flowers."

"Thank you, they're lovely! I need them tonight for my table, too. Will you come into the kitchen with me while I put these in water?"

"M-m," said Ruth. "Something smells good! In the oven?"

"Yes, pork chops, baked apples and escalloped potatoes. Peek in and see 'em."

"Outch!" cried Ruth, holding her hand in sudden pain. "I forgot that that pan was hot, and started to pull it out to see better! I'm a perfect idiot! I do that every time I have anything in the oven!"

"That's a shame, Ruth, dear! Here, apply a little of this olive oil! It's the nearest remedy I have. Vaseline is good, too, or baking soda. Hold it with the damp cloth to keep out the air."

"It feels better already," said Ruth. "I made some gingerbread last evening for dinner—Fred was there—and burned my hand in the same way exactly. And even at such a cost the gingerbread wasn't very good. I think I didn't bake it quite long enough. How long ought it to be in the oven?"

"Well, gingerbread takes longer than most quick-breads.[112] Here, let me give you my time-guide for baking, and you can keep it in your card-index. Then it's always at hand when you want to refer to it."

"Thank you, that's a good idea, Bettina. May I sit down here at the kitchen table and copy it?"

"Do, I'll get you a pencil and a piece of paper. Ruth, won't you stay to dinner tonight?"

"I can't possibly, Bettina. I am going out with mother, and should be at home now dressing. Oh, by the way, I had a chance to refer last night to something you made me copy and put with my recipe cards. 'How to Remove Grass Stains'! I got it on my white dress—a dreadful looking stain—and immediately referred to my card-index. It said, 'Moisten with alcohol or camphor, allow to stand five minutes, and wash out with clear water.' The stain came out like magic! I used camphor; we didn't happen to have any alcohol in the house."

"I'm so glad it came out; that is such a pretty white dress. And weren't you glad you knew just where to find a remedy? It seems a little trouble to index things, but it is really worth doing."

"I think so, too. Well, there's Bob, and I must rush off. Bob, you're going to have a good dinner tonight! I've just been investigating!"

Bob had:

Select apples of uniform size. Wash and core. Place in a pan, cover the bottom with water. Fill each cavity with sugar,[113] a dash of powdered cinnamon and a tiny lump of butter. Bake for thirty minutes, basting occasionally. Serve around the platter of pork chops.

Pop-overs—Thirty minutes in a hot oven.

Baking-powder biscuits—Ten to fifteen minutes in a hot oven.

Corn bread—Twenty-five to forty minutes in a moderate oven.

Muffins—Twenty to twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

Gingerbread—Thirty to forty-five minutes in a slow oven.

[114]

CHAPTER XXXI

"Pretty bad; isn't it!" said he, ruefully. "Frank Dixon brought me home in his car, and he had some sort of engine trouble. We worked on it for awhile, but couldn't fix it, so he phoned the garage and I came home on the street car. I must have rubbed up against some grease. Do you suppose my clothes are spoiled?"

"No-o," said Bettina, slowly, "not if I get at them. Let me see; what is it that takes out auto grease? Oh, I know! Bob, you go and change your clothes right away while I'm cooking the meat for dinner. Then I'll doctor these."

"What will you do to them?"

"I'll rub them with lard, and let it stay on them for about an hour. Then after dinner I'll wash them out in warm water and soap, and then—well, Bob, I believe they'll be all as good as new."

"I thank you, Mrs. Bettina."

When Bob returned and Bettina was putting the dinner on the table, she smiled to herself over a new idea that had popped into her head.

"Bob, what would you think if I should enter some of my nut-bread at the state fair?"

"Well, is that what you've been smiling at all this time? I think it would be fine. If I were judge you'd get first prize in[115] a minute! Say, strikes me this is a pretty good dinner!"

It consisted of:

Wipe a slice of ham (one-third of an inch thick) and remove the rind. Place in a hot frying-pan. Add the water. Cook until brown on both sides (about fifteen minutes).

Mix the onions with the white sauce and pour into a buttered baking dish. Melt the butter and add the fresh bread crumbs. Place the buttered crumbs on top of the onions. Brown the mixture in the oven (about fifteen minutes).

Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the butter. Add the milk and egg. Mix well. Spread one-half an inch thick in a shallow pan. Pare and cut the apples in lengthwise sections. Lay in rows in the dough with the sharp edges pressed lightly into the dough. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with lemon sauce.

[116]

Mix the sugar, salt and flour well. Add the water slowly. Cook seven minutes. Add the butter and lemon juice. Serve hot.

[117]

CHAPTER XXXII

"She told me that they were hoping for fair weather, but weren't counting on it."

"And this is a regular golden day; isn't it! What a time to remember! Bob, look at Cousin Kate's flowers! A natural altar, without decoration! Poppies, sweet-peas, nasturtiums, cosmos, more kinds than I can count! It's a little earlier than they usually have weddings, too; isn't nine-thirty early?"

"Yes, but Frances thought that this would be the prettiest time for it, and you know they aren't at all conventional."

"What are you two gossiping about?" shouted big Cousin Charles in Bettina's ear: "don't you see enough of each other at home without avoiding the rest of us at a time like this? Go and kiss the bride and congratulate the groom as soon as you can get to them. Fanny wants to see you particularly, Bettina. Breakfast is to be served on the porch; don't forget that you two are to be at the bride's table!"

The wide porch looked very charming. Each table seated four, except the one for the bridal party and near relatives, which was in the center, surrounded by the others. On each table was a basket of pink sweet-peas and trailing greenery. Each simple white place-card held a flower or two, slipped through two parallel cuts across the corner. Frances was seated at the groom's left, and at her left sat her new brother-in-law,[118] who was the best man. Next to him was the minister's wife, then jolly Cousin Charles, the bride's father, then the groom's mother. At the right of the groom sat Anne, Fanny's sister, who was maid-of-honor; and next to her sat the clergyman. Then came the bride's mother and the groom's father. Beyond him sat Bettina, then Bettina's cousin Harry, then Aunt Nell and Bob. That was all, for there were few near relatives and Bettina's father and mother were in California.

"Frances looks well; doesn't she?" said Aunt Nell to Bettina. "No showers, no parties or excitement, and you can see how simple the wedding has been. Cousin Kate is so sensible, and so is Frances. I can tell you already that the breakfast menu will be dainty and delicious, but simple."

She was right, for it consisted of:

Cut the legs from the body, break the joint at the thigh and cut in two. Cut off the neck and wings. Break the breastbone and cut in two lengthwise. Break the back in two pieces lengthwise, if desired. Plunge the pieces into cold water and allow to drain. Sprinkle each piece with salt and paprika, and roll in flour. Place the fat in a frying-pan. When very hot add the chicken. Allow all the pieces to brown thoroughly; cover the pan with a lid and add the water, lower the fire and cook[119] over a moderate fire for thirty minutes. Turn frequently to prevent scorching.

Loosen the pieces of chicken which have stuck to the frying-pan, add the butter, stir constantly until the butter "bubbles," add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix thoroughly. Add the milk slowly, cook for two minutes, add the chopped parsley and pour the gravy into a gravy bowl for serving.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and continue creaming the mixture. Mix and sift three times the flour, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar. Add these dry ingredients alternately with the milk to the first mixture. Add the almond and vanilla extracts. Beat two minutes. Cut and fold in the egg-whites which have been stiffly beaten. Pour the cake batter into a large, round loaf cake pan, having a hole in the center. Bake forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. When the cake is removed from the oven, allow it to stand in a warm place for five minutes, then with a spatula and a sharp knife, carefully loosen the cake from the sides, and turn out onto a cake cooler. When cool, cover with White Mountain Cream Icing.

The Bride's Cake may be baked in this form and placed in the center of the table for the central decoration. A tall, slender vase, filled with the flowers used in decorating, may be placed in the hole in the cake. Place the cake upon a pasteboard box four inches high and one inch wider than the cake.[120] This gives space to decorate around the cake. The cake and box may be placed on a reflector, which gives a very pretty effect. If cake boxes containing wedding cakes are distributed among the guests as favors, use the one in the round pan for central decoration and bake others in square pan. Square pieces may then be cut, wrapped in waxed paper, and placed in the boxes.

[121]

CHAPTER XXXIII

"I usually anticipate feeling this way," said Bettina, "and plan to have something at home that is already prepared, and that I can get together without much trouble. Then I put on a house dress as quickly as I can, for I can't bear to cook in party clothes. But I'm sure I don't know what I am going to have for dinner tonight. Bob and I had planned to go downtown to dinner with some friends, but just before I went out this afternoon he phoned that the invitation had been withdrawn because of somebody's illness."

"Goodness!" cried Mrs. Dixon, "what will you do? Go downtown yourselves?"

"No; Bob doesn't enjoy that, and neither do I. I can manage somehow, for of course there are always things in the house to get. I'll tell you. I'll phone Bob to bring Mr. Dixon here, and you can see what an emergency supper is like."

"Oh, I couldn't think of it! You're tired, and it's nearly six now!"

"Well, what of that? You can help. And I know you're dreading to get dinner at home. We'll just combine forces."

Bettina went to the telephone and called Bob. "Hello, dear! Please bring Mr. Dixon home to dinner with you; Charlotte is going to stay. And if you come in his car, will you stop on[122] the way and get a watermelon that has been on ice? Be sure it's cold!"

"And now," she said to Mrs. Dixon, "let me get into a house-dress, and then for a sight of the refrigerator."

"Oh, what beautiful glazed apples!" exclaimed Mrs. Dixon ten minutes later.

"They were to have been for breakfast, but I'll have them for dinner instead. Then there are enough cold boiled potatoes for creamed potatoes; and, besides that, we'll have an omelet. And then I'll stir up some emergency biscuit——"

"And you can explain everything that you do!"

"Well, for the omelet—we'll take four good-sized eggs—one for each of us——"

"What else goes in? Milk?"

"No, I think that hot water makes a more tender omelet. Then I'll use a few grains of baking powder to assist in holding it up, though that isn't necessary. We'll beat the yolks and whites separately till they're very light. Goodness! There come the men!"

"Here's your watermelon, Bettina!" called Bob. "A big fellow! Don't forget to save the rind for pickles, will you? Why, hello, Mrs. Dixon! Frank's here!"

The menu that night consisted of:

Beat the yolks until thick and lemon colored. Add hot water (one tablespoonful to an egg), salt and pepper. Beat the whites till stiff and dry. Cut and fold into the first mixture. Heat the omelet pan, add the butter, turn the pan so that the[123] melted butter covers the sides and bottom of the pan. Turn in the mixture, spread evenly, turn down the fire and allow the omelet to cook slowly. Turn the pan so that the omelet will brown evenly. When well puffed and delicately browned underneath, place the pan on the center shelf in a moderate oven to finish cooking the top of the omelet. Crease across center with knife and fold over very carefully. Allow to remain a moment in pan. Turn gently with a spatula onto a hot platter. Garnish with parsley. An omelet is sufficiently cooked when it is firm to the touch when pressed by the finger.

Add the potatoes, sprinkled with salt and pepper, to vegetable white sauce. Add pimento and parsley. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly.

Mix the dry ingredients and cut in the fat. Add the milk, mixing with a knife. Drop by spoonfuls on a buttered pan, placing one inch apart. Bake twelve minutes in a hot oven.

Boil the sugar and water six minutes in a deep saucepan. Do not stir. Pare and core the apples. Place them in the syrup as soon as pared, to prevent them from discoloring. Cook until apples are tender. Remove the apples from the syrup and boil the sugar and water longer if it is not thick enough. Add the butter to the syrup and pour in and around the apples. Serve hot or cold. Granulated sugar may be used, but "C" sugar gives a better flavor.

[124]

CHAPTER XXXIV

"Such a simple breakfast after all, Bob! Do you think she'll like it?"

"Sure she will! If she doesn't I'll disown her! Say, Bettina, I haven't had my breakfast yet, and ten o'clock sounds far away. May I have just one doughnut with my coffee?"

"Why, Bobby, Bobby! Did I forget you? Your Aunt Elizabeth and the whole suffrage cause is on my mind this morning, but I didn't think even that could make me forget you. Help yourself to anything you see that looks good!"

The Aunt Elizabeth on Bettina's mind was an aunt of Bob's who was to be in town between nine and twelve, in conference with some of the leading suffragists of the city. She wished to see the bungalow, and at ten o'clock Bettina was giving a breakfast for her and the women with whom she was to confer. It was with fear and trepidation that Bettina had invited them, although she declared to herself that she was sure, sure, sure, of every dish on the menu!

As she arranged the great graceful yellow poppies in the center of the porch table, set for six, she was feeling somewhat nervous.

"Bob, you must go now, or you'll be too late for the train. Take a taxi home, not a street car."

"Taxi! You don't know my Aunt Elizabeth. She'd say, 'Say, young man, if you aren't saving your money any better[125] than this, you ought to be.' And we'd probably end by walking."

"Hurry, dear."

The train proved to be late, and Ruth and Bettina were ready to the last detail. While beautiful, distinguished-looking Aunt Elizabeth was dressing, Bettina was meeting guests at the door. Before she realized it, she had introduced everybody to the guest of honor, and was ushering them out to her charming porch table.

"Oh, Ruth," she said in the kitchen, "isn't my Aunt Elizabeth lovely? I'll say 'mine' now, not Bob's. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to be frightened."

The breakfast consisted of:

Shred the fish. Pare and quarter potatoes. Place the fish and potatoes in a stewpan and cover with boiling water. Boil twenty-five minutes or till the potatoes are soft. Do not boil too long or they will become soggy. Drain well, mash and beat until light. Add butter, seasoning and egg. Shape, roll in crumbs, egg mixed with water, more crumbs, and fry in deep fat. These may be shaped into flat cakes, rolled in flour and sautéd in hot fat. Garnish with parsley.

[126]

Melt the butter, add the flour and gradually add the milk. Cook three minutes, add seasoning and the well-beaten yolks. Fold in the beaten whites and turn into buttered moulds. Set in a pan of hot water and bake in a slow oven until firm (about twenty-five minutes). Serve with a white sauce, highly seasoned, to which has been added one cup of cooked peas. Pour the sauce around the soufflé.

Beat the eggs, add the sugar. Mash the potatoes and add the butter and the milk. Add this mixture to the eggs and sugar. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon sifted together. Roll one-fourth of an inch thick, cut with a doughnut cutter, and fry in hot deep fat.

[127]

CHAPTER XXXV

"I'll tell just Betty; no one else must know—yet. But what if I haven't the courage to tell even her?"

"Perhaps she'll suspect anyhow!"

"Goodness, Harry! You make me afraid to go in! Is my expression different?"

The answer was not audible to Bettina, though she was sure that she heard whispers and a little suppressed laughter. Certainly it had sounded like Alice's voice! What? Could Mr. Harrison be with her? For a moment Bettina stood stock still, feeling like an eavesdropper. Then she let out a gasp of amazement. "Well!" was all she said, and sat down to think. When the door-bell rang, she could not at first gain the composure necessary to answer it.

"Why, how are you, Alice? I haven't seen you for ages! And Mr. Harrison! Do come in; you must stay to dinner, for you're just in time. Bob will be home any minute."

"Oh, we couldn't stay!" answered Alice. "Har—Mr. Harrison and I were walking home from town, and when we came to this house, we couldn't help stopping to say 'hello.'"

Bettina was conscious of a strained feeling in the air, which made her want to giggle—or shake Alice. After all, she couldn't help overhearing! And yet she might be mistaken![128] She found herself saying—she scarcely knew what—to keep up the conversation.

"Do stay! We have a funny little dinner tonight, but I believe you'll like it. Bob had been rather over-worked at the office lately—and I tried today to think of some of his favorite dishes for dinner. I wanted to have a jolly little meal to take his mind off his worries. And it would help a lot if he could see you two people. Do stay! Do you care for blueberry tarts, Mr. Harrison? Well, that's to be our dessert!"

"My, that sounds fine!" said Mr. Harrison. "Couldn't we stay, after all?" he asked, turning to Alice.

"Well, if you really, truly want us," said Alice to Bettina.

"Why, of course I do! I'm delighted to see you! I think we're fortunate. Mr. Harrison, you are usually so busy that we scarcely dare invite you!"

"I suppose I ought to be at work today, but I'm taking a little holiday. I couldn't put my mind on business."

He was actually blushing, Bettina thought. Suddenly she found Alice's arms around her and Alice's laughing face hidden on her shoulder. "Don't, Harry! Let me be the one to tell her!"

And so Bob found them, all laughing and talking at once.

"Hurrah!" said he when he heard the news. "The best possible idea! Is dinner ready, Bettina? Get out some grape juice and we'll drink to the health and future happiness of Alice and Harry! I'm the man that made this match!"

Dinner that night consisted of:

[129]

Mix ingredients in order given, heat and serve on wafers.

Mix the rice and salt with the egg. Shape into flat cakes, two and a half inches in diameter and one-half an inch thick. Roll in bread crumbs and sauté in hot fat until brown on both sides. (About eight minutes.) If the egg does not sufficiently moisten the rice, add one tablespoon of milk.

Stuff fresh tomatoes with cabbage, seasoned, and mixed with salad dressing. Arrange the tomatoes on lettuce leaves and place one tablespoon salad dressing on the top. Add a small piece of green pepper or a sprig of parsley to the salad dressing.

Fill muffin pans with plain pastry. Place two tablespoons of mixture on each crust. Cover with pastry strips and bake twenty minutes.

Mix the berries, sugar, butter cut in small pieces, vinegar and cinnamon. Cook, stirring constantly, over a moderate fire for three minutes.

[130]

CHAPTER XXXVI

"But then," said Bettina's mother, "did you find anything in California that you thought equalled anything in your own state? Father never does," said she, laughing. "He seems to enjoy traveling because it makes him feel that his own home is superior to every other place on earth. And it is," she agreed, looking about her happily. "I can say that after a summer spent in California, I'm more than thankful to be back again."

"I was afraid that you and father would be so anxious to open up the house that you wouldn't agree to come here for your first meal."

"Of course we're anxious to get home," said Mother, "but after you wrote Father that if he would come here to dinner tonight you would have a steak cooked just to suit him, he was as eager as a boy to get here."

"Well, who wouldn't look forward to it, after a summer spent in hotels?" said Father. "And I must say that Bettina's dinner justifies my eagerness. It's exactly right—steak and all."

"Now for dessert!" said Bob. "This coffee that I've been making in the percolator is all ready, Bettina!"

For dinner that night they had:

[131]

Wipe the meat with a damp cloth. Have a tin pan sizzling hot. Place the meat in the pan and cook directly under the broiling flame. Turn frequently with spoons, as a fork will pierce the meat and allow the juices to escape. A steak an inch and a half thick should be cooked from eight to ten minutes. Place the steak on a hot platter. Sprinkle with salt, lemon juice and parsley. Dot with butter. Serve very hot.

Pour the drippings from the steak into a pan, add flour and mix well. Allow the flour to brown, add water and milk very slowly to the flour and drippings. Add the salt and allow to cook until the gravy thickens. If there are not two tablespoons of drippings, add sufficient butter to equal the amount.

Wash and scrape the carrots, cut into two-thirds inch cubes and cook until tender in enough boiling water to cover. (About fifteen minutes.) Drain, add the butter, salt and pepper. Heat thoroughly and serve. Carrots may be scraped and steamed whole or cooked whole in boiling water.

[132]

Cream the butter, add the sugar and mix well. Add the egg and milk, salt, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and dates. Beat for two minutes. Bake in a well-buttered loaf cake pan for thirty-five minutes.

Beat the egg white until very stiff; add water and sugar gradually. Beat thoroughly and add the flavoring. Beat until it will stand alone, then spread on cake. More sugar may be added if necessary.

Place all the above ingredients in a pint fruit jar, fit a rubber and top tightly on the jar, shake vigorously until well mixed and creamy, and pour over head lettuce, tomatoes, asparagus, peas, beans or spinach. Serve as a salad.

[133]

CHAPTER XXXVII

"Well, if you'll take me out into the kitchen where you are working. You see, I have all this to learn, and I'm depending on you to help me."

"Of course I'll help, Alice, but you are so clever about anything that you care to do that I know you'll soon outstrip your teacher. Tell me first, does anyone know the Big Secret yet?"

"Not a soul but Bettina, Bob, and my family. That is what I came to talk about."

"Oh, Alice, I'd love to be the one to give the announcement luncheon, or the breakfast, or whatever you prefer to have it!"

"Would you do it, really? Bettina, I've been longing to have you offer, but it is work and trouble, and I didn't want to suggest it."

"Why, Alice, I just enjoy that kind of work! I'd be flattered to be allowed to have it here. Of course, you know that I can't do anything very elaborate or expensive, but I'm sure that between us we can think up just the prettiest, cleverest way of telling it that any prospective bride ever had!"

"Bettina, my faith is in you!"

"When do you plan to be married?"

"Late in October or early in November, I think. And I'd prefer not to have it announced for a month. You see, I don't want to allow time for too many festivities in between."

[134]

"Oh, Alice, if you take my advice, you won't have any showers or parties at all. I know you! If you do allow it, you'll have more excitement than any bride in this town!"

"Well, Harry advises me not to, but oh, Betty, you know how it is! I know so many people, and I do like fun, and then Mother likes to think of me as the center of things. She's afraid that when I am married to Harry I'll become as quiet as he is, and then too, I honestly don't think she'd feel that I was really married without it. You know sister Lillian had lots of excitement and more parties crowded into a day than——"

"Yes, and she was so tired that she nearly fainted when she stood up to be married!"

"That's true, but she liked the fun, anyhow. She says that a girl can have that kind of fun only once, and she's silly to deny herself. Well, I'll have a whole month to think it over in. I've been sitting here all this time, Bettina, trying to decide what it is that you are making—those croquettes, I mean."

"They are potato and green corn croquettes, and Bob is very fond of them. I made them because I happened to have some left-over corn. Until I learned this recipe, I didn't know what to do with the ears of cooked green corn that were left."

"And what is the meat dish?"

"Well, that is made of left-overs, too, but I think you'll like it. Creole Lamb, it is called. It is made of a little cold cooked lamb that was left from last night's dinner. The rhubarb sauce that I am serving with the dinner was our dessert last night. But I do have a very good new dessert!"

"New or not, the dinner does sound good. There is Bob, now, and I'm so glad, for I confess that my appetite is even larger than usual!"

The menu that night was as follows:

[135]

Melt the butter, add pepper and onion. Cook two minutes and add flour, stock, pulp, lemon juice, salt and horseradish. Boil two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the lamb. Heat thoroughly, and serve on toast strips.

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Shape into cylindrical form, roll in bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg, roll again in crumbs. Deep fry. The egg yolks for croquettes may have a tablespoon of water added for each yolk. The whites as well as the yolks may be used for covering the croquettes. To get the corn pulp, cut the kernels lengthwise of the rows, and press out the pulp with the back of the knife. This recipe is good for left-over corn.

[136]

CHAPTER XXXVIII

"Ruth, stay just where you are! This meal is supper, not dinner, and it will be ready in the shortest possible time. Where are the men?"

"Going over the plans of our house, I suppose. Fred has worn them almost in pieces by exhibiting them so often. There seem to be a great many details to settle at the last minute. As for me, I'm perfectly satisfied, for I'm going to have a kitchen exactly like yours. Bettina, what lovely nasturtiums, and how delicious that cold sliced ham looks with more nasturtiums to garnish it!"

"Yes, and I have nasturtium leaves lining the salad bowl—and see, I'll put one large flower on each plate!"

"Don't nasturtiums always seem cool and appetizing? The whole supper looks that way!"

"Well, circus day is almost invariably warm, and people are tired when they come home, so I planned to have a cold and simple meal."

"Isn't boiled ham hard to prepare?"

"No, indeed, nothing could be simpler. I bought a half of a ham—I like a piece cut from the large end—and I soaked it for an hour in cold water. Then I brought it to a boil in[137] fresh cold water and a little vinegar, and transferred it to the fireless cooker for five hours. Then I baked it for an hour in the cooker, having first trimmed it, and covered it with brown sugar and almost as many cloves as I could stick into it. It is very tender and good, I think—one of the best of my fireless cooker recipes."

"I am planning to have a fireless cooker when I keep house."

"That is fine, Ruth! You have no idea how they save both gas and worry. Some day I'll give you all of my best fireless recipes; I use my cooker a great deal. For instance, this brown bread was steamed in the cooker. A fireless is invaluable for steaming. I usually plan to have Boston Brown Bread, Tuna or Salmon Loaf and a pudding all steaming in the large compartment at once. Then I've learned to bake beautiful beans in the cooker! I wonder what our grandmothers think of Boston Baked Beans and Boston Brown Bread all made in the fireless! I'm sure I could prove to any of them that my way is just as good, besides being much cooler and more economical! Well, shall we call Fred and Bob?"

The circus day supper consisted of:

Cream the butter, add the sugar and egg yolks. Mix well. Mix and sift all dry ingredients. Sift and add alternately with sour milk. Add vanilla and stiffly beaten egg white. Bake in a loaf cake pan, prepared with waxed paper, in a moderate[138] oven for twenty-five minutes. Cover with "C" sugar icing.

Mix the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook until the syrup clicks when a little is dropped in cold water. Do not stir while cooking. Have the mixture boil evenly but not too fast. Pour gently over the beaten white of the egg. Stir and beat briskly until creamy. Add vanilla. Place on the cake. If too hard, add a tablespoon of water.

[139]

CHAPTER XXXIX

"Let me answer that," said Bob. "I want to show off! Bettina cooked that as she always cooks onions and turnips, in a a large amount of water in an uncovered utensil. Isn't that correct, Bettina? Send me to the head of the class!"

"Yes, you're right. I did boil the cabbage this morning, and of course I have a well-ventilated kitchen, but I don't believe the odor would be noticeable if I had cooked it just before dinner."

"I never used to eat cabbage," said Bob, "but I like Bettina's way of preparing it. She never lets it cook until it gets a bit brown, and so it has a delicate flavor. Most people cook cabbage too long."

"Another question, Teacher. How did you manage to bake[140] these potatoes so that they are so good and mealy? Mine always burst from their skins."

"Well," said Bettina, "I ran the point of the knife around the outside of the potato. This cutting of the skin allows it to swell a little and prevents it from bursting. Then I baked it in a moderate oven. Another thing. I've discovered that it is better not to pierce a potato to find out if it is done. I press it with my fingers, and if it seems soft on the inside, I remove it from the oven and press the skin until it breaks, allowing the steam to escape. If I don't do that, a mealy potato becomes soggy from the quickly condensing steam."

"Oh, Bettina, I'm so glad to know that! I like baked potatoes because I know they are so digestible, but I never can make them like these. Now I won't monopolize the conversation any longer. You men may discuss business, or the war, or anything you choose."

The dinner that night was as follows:

Grind the meat twice and add the seasoning. Shape into cakes two and a half inches in diameter and one inch thick, handling as little as possible. Place on a hot pan and cook under the broiler twelve minutes, turning when brown. Dot with butter and serve hot.

Mix in order given and spread on hot meat of any kind, broiled steak, chops or fish.

[141]

Select potatoes of a uniform size. Wash thoroughly with a vegetable brush. Run the point of the knife around the outside of the potato. Bake in a moderate oven forty to sixty minutes.

Remove the outer leaves of a two and a half pound head of cabbage. Cut in half (using but half for dinner). Wash thoroughly and cut in shreds or chop moderately fine. Put in a large kettle of rapidly boiling water. Boil for twenty minutes. Drain well, add one-half a teaspoon salt. Make the white sauce, add the cabbage and paprika, mix well. Place in a buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered crumbs and place in a moderate oven until browned.

Wash the prunes thoroughly, cover with water, and allow to soak three hours. Cook slowly in the same water until soft. Remove the stones from the prunes, and save the pulp and juice. Add sugar, cook until very thick (about three minutes). Stir constantly. Cool, add the lemon juice. Cut and fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Fill a well-buttered open tin mould half full of the mixture. Place the pan in another pan filled with boiling water. Cook in a slow oven until well raised, firm, and light brown in color (about twenty-five minutes). Serve with the following custard sauce:

Beat egg yolks until light, in the upper part of a double[142] boiler. Add sugar, flour and salt. Mix well and slowly add the milk. Cook over the lower part of the boiler until thick enough to coat a silver spoon. Beat well, add the extract, and cool.

[143]

CHAPTER XL

"The butter from the table?" asked Bettina. "No, Bob, I keep that left-over butter in a covered dish in the cupboard. You see, there are so many times when I need butter for cake making or cooking, and prefer not to have it very hard. Then I use that cupboard butter. There's the doorbell, Bob. Now who do you suppose that can be?"

"A telegram from Uncle Eric," said Bob, when he returned from the door. "Well, isn't that the limit! He's coming tonight!"

"Tonight!" echoed Bettina.

"Yes, on business. You see, there are so many people in town for the state fair and there are several that he must see. He's a queer old fellow—Uncle Eric is—and he has some queer notions. Doesn't like hotels, or anything but home cooking. He doesn't want anything elaborate, but he's pretty fussy about what he does want. I'm sorry for you, Bettina, but I guess we'll have to make him welcome. He's been pretty good to me, in his funny way, and so I suppose he feels he can descend on us without warning."

"But, Bob—tonight! Why, I'm not ready! I haven't groceries in the house, or anything! And I was planning to give you a cooked cereal for breakfast tomorrow."

"It's too bad, Betty," said Bob sympathetically, "but it seems[144] as if we'll just have to manage some way. Uncle Eric has been good to me, you see. He's an old fogy of a bachelor, but he has a warm heart way down underneath his crusty exterior. And——"

"Don't you worry, Bob," said Bettina heartily. "We will manage. As a rule, I think it's pretty poor taste for anyone to come without warning or an invitation, but maybe Uncle Eric is an exception to all the rules. Tell me about him; do you have time? When does the train get in? Do you have to meet it?"

"I guess I'd better hurry right off now."

"But, Bob, tell me! What must I have for breakfast?"

"Anything but a cereal, Betty! Uncle Eric draws the line at cereals. He has an awful time with his cooks, too. They never suit him."

"Goodness, Bob!" said Betty, in despair. "And I have almost nothing in my cupboard. It's as bare as Mother Hubbard's!"

"Good-bye, dear! I'm off! I know you'll think of some thing."

Bettina smiled hopelessly at the masculine viewpoint, and as soon as Bob had gone she sat down to think, a dish towel in one hand and a spoon in the other.

"Be a sport, Bettina," she murmured to herself. "If Uncle Eric doesn't like his breakfasts, it's his own fault for coming. Get a pencil and paper and plan several cereal-less breakfasts, so that while he is here you will never be at a loss."

Thus fortified by her common sense and what is less common, her sense of humor, Bettina soon evolved the following breakfast menus for Uncle Eric:

Beat the eggs slightly, add salt, milk and sugar. Place in a shallow dish. Soak bread in the mixture until soft. Cook on a hot, well-greased griddle, browning on one side and then turning and browning on the other. Serve hot with maple syrup.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt, add the milk to the well-beaten egg, and pour the liquid slowly into the dry ingredients. Beat thoroughly for one minute. Put a spoonful on[146] a hot, well-greased griddle. When done on one side, turn, and brown on the other. Never turn more than once.

Place bacon slices, which have had the rind removed, on a hot tin pan and set directly under a flame for three minutes. Turn and broil the other side.

Mix the corn, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and sugar. Shape into cakes two inches in diameter and one-half an inch thick. Grease a griddle or a frying-pan thoroughly, and when very hot, place fritters on the pan. When brown on one side, turn over onto the other side. Serve hot, with syrup.

[147]

CHAPTER XLI

"I was about to call you, Bettina. Won't you go to the fair with us this afternoon? You know Cousin Mabel and the children are here from Ford Center, and Cousin Wilfred may arrive some time this morning."

"You do have your hands full this week, don't you, Mother? Uncle Eric is at home only for breakfast, and I called up to ask if you would all come here to dinner tonight."

"Oh, Bettina! I'm afraid it will be too much work for you, dear!"

"I'll plan a simple meal, Mother; one that I can get together in a hurry. In fact I've already planned it."

"But, in that case, you couldn't go to the fair with us this afternoon, could you? And it's said to be especially good today."

"Why, yes, I could go. I can get the most of my dinner ready this morning. What time would you start?"

"At two, I think. Well, Bettina, we'll come, but you must make the meal simple, for we won't be back till six."

"Don't worry, Mother."

Bettina hastened to make her preparations, and at half after one her house was in order and she was ready to go. Besides, she was comfortably conscious of a well-filled larder—cold fried chicken ready and waiting, cold boiled potatoes to be[148] creamed, green corn to be boiled, peaches to be sliced, and delicious chocolate cookies to delight the hearts of the children.

"It will take only a few moments," she thought as she arranged the nasturtiums on her dining table, "to set the table, cream the potatoes, boil the corn, slice the peaches and make the tea. And I believe it's the sort of a dinner that will suit them."

The dinner for state fair guests consisted of:

Melt the butter, add the flour and seasoning and mix well; gradually add the milk and cheese. Cook until the consistency of vegetable white sauce (about one minute after it boils). Add the potatoes, cook four minutes, stirring constantly, and serve.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and cream well. Add alternately the sifted flour, salt, baking powder and egg beaten in milk. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla. Turn out on a floured board and roll a small portion at a time to one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Cut with a floured cooky cutter. Place on a buttered, floured pan and bake in a moderate oven until slightly brown. (About ten minutes.)

[149]

CHAPTER XLII

"Gracious, Uncle John!" she exclaimed. "How you frightened me! But I'm so glad to see you! Where is Aunt Lucy?"

"Here, somewhere. You know she took a few prizes herself and is probably hanging around to hear any stray compliments for her butter or preserves."

"Aren't you ashamed, John!" said Aunt Lucy, herself appearing like magic. "I was just looking for the queen bee among the others in this glass case."

"And here she is!" said Uncle John, laying his hand on Bettina's shoulder, and laughing delightedly at his own joke. "You've been looking in the wrong place."

"For that, Uncle John, I'm going to beg you and Aunt Lucy to come home with me to dinner. Won't you? When did you come in?"

"This morning, and we're making a day of it. We'd like to see the fireworks this evening, but perhaps we could go to your house and get back again. For that matter, you and Bob could go with us to see the fireworks. How about it?"

"Oh, that would be splendid! Bob couldn't come to the fair this afternoon, and I came with a friend."

"Well, we'll take you both home in the car. When shall we see you? Five o'clock? Fine! And you and Bob must come back with us this evening."

Dinner that night consisted of:

[150]

Put fat in frying-pan, when very hot, add the potatoes, salt and pepper. Cook three minutes, allowing to cook without stirring for two minutes. Fold as an omelet and turn onto a hot platter. Garnish with parsley.

Wash the medium-sized beets thoroughly, and cook until tender in boiling water. Drain, cover with cold water and slip off the skins. Slice the beets into one-fourth inch slices. Cover with vinegar and sugar. Allow to stand two hours before using.

Mix the apples, all but two tablespoons of the bread crumbs, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and pour into a buttered baking-dish. Pour the water over the whole mixture. Use the remainder of the crumbs and a little melted butter for the top. Bake forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Serve hot or cold with hard sauce.

Cream the butter, add the boiling water, and the sugar gradually. Stir until the sauce is creamy. Add vanilla and lemon extract. Set in the ice-box to harden. Serve cold.

[151]

CHAPTER XLIII

"And what's more, I've gained in spirits! Say, there's nothing like living in a real home! Why, people, just think of having Charlotte say to me as she did yesterday, 'Frank, Bob and Bettina are coming to dinner to-morrow, and I want you to plan the menu!' And here it is! Excuse me for seeming too proud of my own good judgment and my wife's skill in cookery, but——"

"Hush, Frank! Maybe Bob and Bettina won't like your choice of dishes or your wife's cooking!"

"What!" said Bob. "I have yet to meet the person who doesn't like fried chicken! And roasting ears and new potatoes! Sa-ay!"

"It's a man-size dinner all right, isn't it?" said Mr. Dixon. "You know ever since I was a boy my idea of Sunday dinner (at least in the summer) has been fried chicken with gravy, new potatoes, boiled corn on the cob, and ice cream with sliced peaches! Because ice cream is coming, isn't it, Charlotte? At least I ordered it, and this appears to be my lucky day!"

"Indeed, it is coming," said Mrs. Dixon. "You see, Bettina, ever since I came to keep house (thanks to you) I've longed for the time to come when I could let Frank plan a company meal that I could carry out to the last detail. I have tried all these things before, although not all at the same time. I have always suspected that he would order fried chicken and[152] its accessories (a 'little boy dinner' I called this), so when I told him that he might plan the meal, I knew that I could cook it. You see, I have wanted to invite you and Bob—oh, I've been thinking of it for a long time, but you can cook so well that I thought perhaps you'd rather eat at home!"

"Charlotte, this is a perfect dinner—far better than I could get, I know."

"This salad is an acquired taste with me," put in Mr. Dixon. "In my boyhood, my ideal dinner did not include salad, but Charlotte said there must be one, so this was my choice. I mixed the oil-dressing myself," he added with pride.

"It was a simple dinner to get," said Mrs. Dixon. "But now, Frank, we mustn't boast any more about our own dinner, must we? Bob and Bettina will laugh at us. You see, we're regular children since we took the house, but we do have lots of fun. I wouldn't go back to hotel living for anything in the world!"

"And neither would I," said Frank, "if for no other reason than the joy of entertaining our friends at dinner this way!"

Their Sunday dinner consisted of:

Cut the peeled tomatoes and cucumber in one-third inch cubes, mix with the onion chopped fine. Add the dressing,[153] which has been well mixed, and allow to stand ten minutes in a cold place. Serve on head lettuce.

Add the sugar to the peaches and allow to stand in the ice box for ten minutes. Place peaches around the ice cream.

Cream the butter, add the sugar, and continue creaming for two minutes. Alternately add all the dry ingredients and the milk. Beat well. Cut and fold in the egg-whites. Add the flavoring. Bake in two buttered layer-cake pans, twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Cover with "C" sugar icing.

Cook the sugar and water together without stirring until the icing "clicks" in cold water. Remove from the fire and pour very slowly over the stiffly beaten egg-whites. Beat vigorously and continuously until the icing gets thick and creamy. Add the vanilla. Spread on the cake.

Mix cream, sugar, vanilla and salt. Place in a scalded and chilled freezer. Turn until the mixture stiffens. Pack for two hours to ripen.

[154]

CHAPTER XLIV

"Fine!" said Bettina. "What kind shall it be?"

"Penoche, if you have all the ingredients."

"I think I have. Let's see. It's better when it's made partly with 'C' sugar, and I have that. I wonder if there will be enough milk left for breakfast if we use a little! Well, penoche really tastes exactly as good when it is made with water instead, though, of course, it isn't so rich. But then, I think, we do have enough milk."

"First of all, though," said Bob, "we'll wash these dishes. It was a mighty good dinner tonight, Bettina. The nice kind of a hot meal that it seems good to come home to on a night like this."

"It was an oven dinner, Bob. You see, the meat loaf, the escalloped potatoes, and the rice pudding were all in the oven at once. I always try to use the oven for more than one dish if I am using it at all."

"We seem to have eaten all of this tomato sauce," said Bob, as he carried out the dish, "but there is a good deal of meat left. Will you have to make more sauce?"

"No, I planned just enough for one meal. Then, tomorrow, I'll serve the rest of the meat cold without a sauce. How did you like the rice pudding hot as it was tonight? You know I usually serve it cold."

"It tasted very good for a cold evening. There, all these[155] dishes are ready to wash, Bettina. Will you get out some tea towels for me?"

The dinner that night consisted of:

Grind the meat well, and mix all the ingredients excepting the butter. Pat into an oblong shape and place in a well-buttered pan. Add three tablespoons of water to the pan, and place the butter in small pieces on the top of the loaf. Cover the pan and bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

Simmer for fifteen minutes the tomatoes, water, bay leaves, sugar, cloves and onion. Strain and press out all the pulp. Melt the butter, add the flour, blend well, slowly add the strained tomato and salt. Cook one minute. Serve hot on the meat.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Slice very thin. Mix through the sliced potatoes, the flour, salt, pepper and the butter in[156] small pieces. Place the mixture in a well-buttered pan or baking dish, and cover with milk. Usually one cup suffices. Bake in a moderate oven forty-five to fifty minutes. (Do not fill the pan more than three-fourths full, as the potatoes will boil over.)

Beat the egg, add the sugar, salt, nutmeg, vanilla, and milk. Add the rice. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish and dot over with the butter. Bake in a moderate oven twenty-five minutes. It may be served hot or cold. Cream may be served with it if desired.

Mix the sugar, butter, milk and cream of tartar. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent from scorching, until a soft ball is formed when a little candy is dropped in cold water. Remove from the fire, and do not stir until it is cool. Put back on the stove for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from stove, and beat vigorously until very creamy. Add the nuts and vanilla. When hard and creamy, remove from the pan, patting into shape and kneading until soft and creamy. Place on a buttered pan, patting to the thickness of three-fourths of an inch. Cut into the desired shape.

[157]
[158]

SEPTEMBER.

[159]

CHAPTER XLV

"But goodness, Bettina! I might spoil it!"

"No, you wouldn't, and I would show you just what to do. I suspect that you handled the dough too much before and that was what made the pie seem tough."

"I suppose I did; I was so anxious to have it well mixed."

"Did you use your fingers in mixing in the shortening? I know that many good cooks do it, but it is really better to use a knife, with the blade flat. And then roll the pastry out just as lightly as possible."

"Do you make pastry with lard or butter?"

"I usually make it with an equal amount of each. Lard makes a more tender crust than butter, and a whiter crust, but I think butter gives it a better flavor."

[160]

Bettina and Ruth had reached home by this time, and Bettina brought out the materials for Ruth's pie. "I'll give you ice-water to moisten the pastry," said she; "it isn't necessary, but it is really better in the summer time. And while you're mixing in the shortening with this knife, I'll be cooking some eggs hard for eggs a la goldenrod which I am going to give you tonight."

"Eggs a la goldenrod!" exclaimed Ruth, "How good that does sound!"

"It is a very good luncheon-dish, but I find it also good for dinner when I'm not having meat. I think it looks appetizing, too."

"I must learn how to make it. You know Father comes home at noon, and it is hard to think of a variety of luncheon-dishes. I usually have eggs or cheese in some form or other, but 'eggs a la goldenrod,' are new to me."

"We also have cottage-cheese tonight," said Bettina. "I plan to make it about once a week. Ruth, I believe I hear Bob now! Well, he'll have to wait half an hour or more for his dinner!"

That night they had:

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add the milk gradually. Cook until a white sauce consistency. Add chopped egg-whites. Pour this mixture over slices of toast arranged on a platter. Force the yolks through a strainer on top of the sauce on the toast. Garnish with parsley and serve hot.

[161]

Form cold seasoned mashed potato into cakes two inches in diameter. Dip the cakes lightly into a little flour. Allow one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon lard to get very hot in a frying-pan. Put in the cakes, brown on each side, and serve.

Place thick freshly soured milk over a pan of hot water, not boiling. When the milk is warm and the curds separate from the whey, strain off the whey in a cheese cloth. Put into a bowl, add salt, pepper and cream to taste. Stir lightly with a fork.

One—All the materials must be cold.

Two—Always roll one way and on one side of the pastry.

Three—Shortening should be handled as little as possible.

Four—Dough should be mixed with a knife and not touched with the hands.

Five—Shortening should be cut in with a knife.

Six—Cook pastry in a hot oven having the greatest heat at the bottom so that it may rise before browning. Crust is done when it slips from the pan.

[162]

CHAPTER XLVI

"Oh, Bob, I've had the nicest day! Mother 'phoned me this morning that Uncle John had brought her several big baskets of apples from the farm, and that if I cared to come over to help, we would put them up together, and I might have half. Well, we made apple jelly, plum and apple jelly, and raspberry and apple jelly. I had made all these before, and knew how good they were, but I learned something new from Mother that has made me feel happy ever since."

"And so you came home, and in your enthusiasm made this fine dandy peach cobbler for dinner!"

"Bob, that was the very way I took to express my joy!"

"Well, what is this wonderful new apple concoction?"

"Perhaps it isn't new, but it was new to me! It is an apple and mint jelly, and I know it will be just the thing to serve with meat this winter."

"How did you make it? (I hope you are noticing how interested I'm becoming in all the cooking processes!)"

"Well, I washed and cut into small pieces four pounds of greening apples. Then I washed and chopped fine one cup of fresh mint, and added it to the apples. I covered the mixture with water, and cooked it all till the apples were so tender that they were falling to pieces. I strained it then, and used three-fourths of a cup of sugar for each cup of juice. I cooked this till the mixture jellied, and then I added four teaspoons of[163] lemon juice and enough green vegetable color paste to give it a delicate color."

"Isn't that coloring matter injurious?"

"Oh, no, Bob! It's exactly as pure as any vegetable, and it gives things such a pretty color. Why, I use it very often, and I'm sure that more people would try it if they knew how successful it is! It is such fun to experiment with. Of course, I never use anything but the vegetable coloring."

"Well, go on with the jelly. What next?"

"That's all, I think. I just poured it into glasses, and there it is, waiting for you to help me carry it home from Mother's. Now, Bob, won't that be good next winter with cold roast beef or cold roast veal? I know it will be just the thing to use with a pork roast!"

"I'm growing very enthusiastic. Sounds fine. But speaking of cooking, this is a mighty good dinner. I like peach cobbler as well as any dessert there is."

"I'm glad you like it. But I forgot to tell you, Bob, that I'm to have all the apples I can use in the fall. Uncle John has promised them to me. Then Mother says we'll make cider. Won't that be fine?"

"I should say it will! Cider and doughnuts and pumpkin pie! Makes me long for fall already! But then, I like green corn and watermelon and peaches, so I suppose I can wait."

That evening Bettina served:

[164]

Peel cold boiled potatoes. Put two tablespoons of lard in the frying-pan. When hot, add the potatoes and season well with salt and pepper. Brown thoroughly on all sides. (They should cook about ten minutes.)

Cook the corn and water together very slowly for twenty minutes, or until the water is all cooked out. (Place on an asbestos mat to prevent burning.) Add butter, milk, sugar and salt. Serve hot.

Mix sugar, salt and scalded milk. When lukewarm, add the yeast cake dissolved in one-fourth of a cup of lukewarm water. Add one and a half cups flour. Cover and set in a warm place to rise. When double in bulk, add the butter (melted), four tablespoons sugar and more flour (enough to knead). Let rise, knead and roll into a sheet half an inch thick, spread with a mixture made by adding melted butter, one and a fourth cups sugar and the cinnamon. Roll up like a jelly roll. Cut in slices three-fourths inch thick. Place in a pan one inch apart, let rise again. Bake in a moderately hot oven twenty-five minutes.

[165]

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients (baking powder, salt and flour), and add the milk. (The resulting dough should be of biscuit dough consistency.) Peel and slice the peaches, mix well with the sugar (one-third cup) and place on the bottom of a baking dish (not tin.) Place dough shaped to fit on the top of the peaches. Make three holes to allow the steam to escape. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Boil the sugar and water four minutes. When the cobbler has cooked for twenty minutes, pour the syrup over it and allow to cook ten minutes more. Cream may be served with the cobbler if desired.

[166]

CHAPTER XLVII

"I was just thinking," said Bob, "that it might be fun to get Harry and Alice, and go out to Killkare park this evening. I don't believe you've been on a roller coaster this year."

"It would be fun to go," said Bettina, "although I haven't missed the roller coaster."

"Well, let's ask them to go. We can stay there awhile and then——"

"Then what?"

"Oh, nothing. Then go home."

"Bob, you meant—come here afterward and have a nice little lunch; didn't you?"

"I confess that I thought of that, and then I happened to remember that you were going out this afternoon and wouldn't want to bother with any preparations for a party."

"Going out this afternoon would not worry me at all—it is just that my funds are getting a little low, and I couldn't serve anything expensive. Let me think what I have on hand—yes, I believe I could do it by serving a salad and a dessert out of my own head."

"A Bettina salad? That's the very best kind. And what will the dessert be?"

"A Bettina dessert, too. I have some lovely apples, Bob, and I just can't afford anything very expensive. I know this will[167] be good, too, but you mustn't complain if I have sponge cake to eat with it."

"I should say not, Bettina. Whatever you give us will tickle me, and Alice and Harry are in such a state of blindness that they won't know what they're eating."

That evening they had:

Put the cheese through the food chopper or grate it, add the olives chopped, the sweet pickles, peanuts, salt and paprika. Blend well, and form into balls, one inch in diameter. Arrange several on a lettuce leaf. Serve salad dressing with the salad.

Peel and core the apples. Drop into the sugar and water which has been boiled for ten minutes to form a syrup. Place a lid on the pan and cook the apples until tender. Remove from the syrup and roll in the cocoanut. Add the marshmallows to the syrup (which has been removed from the fire) and allow them to melt. Stir them in the syrup. When the marshmallows are dissolved, stir the mixture to mix the marshmallows with the syrup. Pour around the apple, and fill the hole in the center of the apple. Place a red cherry on the top of each.

[168]

Beat the yolks until thick and lemon colored, add the sugar gradually and beat for two minutes. Add the flour, sifted with the baking powder, and salt. Add the boiling water, lemon juice, and grated rind. Beat with a Dover egg-beater, two minutes. Fold in whites of the eggs. Bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven in an unbuttered pan. Do not cut sponge cake, except through the crust, then break apart.

[169]

CHAPTER XLVIII

"Here I am, Bob, in the kitchen! I'm so ashamed of myself!"

"What for?"

"My carelessness. I just spilled a whole bottle of ink on this new apron of mine! I had begun to get dinner, and as it was a little early, I sat down for a minute to finish a letter to Polly. Then all at once I thought something was burning, and jumped up in such a hurry that I spilled the ink. I ought to have known better than to try to do two things at once! Luckily, the dinner was all right, but look at this apron! And it was such a pretty one!"

"Well, Bettina, I'm always getting ink and auto grease on my clothes, and you seem to keep yours spotless. So it is a surprise to me that it happened. Still, spoiling a new apron may be unfortunate, but I shouldn't call it tragic. Is it really spoiled?"

"No, I think I can fix it up so it will be almost as good as new, but it's a nuisance. See, I'm soaking it in this sour milk. I'll leave it here for four hours, and then apply some more milk for awhile. Then I believe the ink will come out when I rinse it."

"Well, Bettina, I'm glad you didn't spill ink on the dinner. Something smells mighty good!"

[170]

They had:

Grind round steak, season, shape into round cakes and broil them for seven minutes under the flame. While they are cooking, prepare the horseradish sauce.

Melt the butter, add the flour. Mix well, add the milk and cook one minute. Add the salt and the horseradish. Serve immediately.

Cook the potatoes (peeled) in boiling salted water. When done, drain off the water, pass through a vegetable ricer, or mash well with a potato masher. Add butter, salt, pepper, and the milk. Beat vigorously, reheat and pile lightly in a hot dish.

Add the sliced hard-cooked eggs and cooked celery to the white sauce. Mix well. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish. Cover with the crumbs which have been mixed with melted butter. Bake in a moderate oven until a delicate brown. (About twenty minutes.)

[171]

CHAPTER XLIX

"I've been away all afternoon, Bob, at the loveliest little porch party at Alice's! You know her porch is beautiful, anyhow, and her party was very informal. She telephoned to five of us this morning, and asked us to come over and bring our sewing; the day was so perfect. She served a delicious little luncheon from her tea cart, very simple but so good! And the beauty of it was that she had made everything herself! She didn't tell the girls, but she whispered it to me. Of course, if she had told the others, she would have given herself away; they are a little suspicious of her now because she is seen everywhere with Harry!"

"He told me he wished they could announce it right away! He doesn't like to make a secret of it."

"It won't be very long now—you know they are to be married in October or November. But, Bob, as I was telling you, Alice did all the cooking for this party herself. Of course, it was simple, but really, I think she is quite wonderful. She has never done anything useful before, but she is so clever, and she has such a 'knack' that it will really be easier for her than for Ruth. And Ruth will work twice as hard. Alice says that she is going to give other little parties this way, and practice on her guests. She says she is determined to do things just as well as anybody else, and now that she is interested, she has a tremendous pride in being a success. You know how[172] high-spirited Alice is. Well, she isn't to be surpassed by anyone in anything she cares to do! Oh, I forgot, Bob, she gave me some cakes to bring to you, and also some salted nuts."

"Hurray for Alice! She's some friend all right! What else did you have at the party?"

"Such good salad—she gave me the recipe—well, her menu consisted of:

Add the chopped pimento, green pepper and salt to the cottage cheese. Work all together well, shape into balls one inch in diameter. Place a ball in the center of each slice of pineapple, which has been arranged upon a piece of lettuce. Place a nut meat upon the top of each cheese ball. Serve one tablespoon of salad dressing upon each service.

Cook apricots, sugar and water until the apricots are soft. (About five minutes.) Cool, add the lemon juice and freeze. When the mixture is half frozen, add the stiffly beaten white and continue freezing until stiff. More sugar may be used if desired.

[173]

CHAPTER L

"He'll come," said Bettina confidently, for she felt that she had discovered the soft spot in Uncle Eric's heart. "We'll have a good dinner, too."

Bob remembered what she had said about the dinner and repeated it to himself as they stepped from the street car after the matinee. "It's late, Bettina," he said anxiously, "will it take you long to get dinner?"

"A very few minutes," answered Bettina. "Just long enough to warm it over."

To warm it over! But then, all of Bettina's dinners were good, so he resolved not to worry. Nevertheless, he could not help leaving Uncle Eric for a few minutes to come into the kitchen. "What can I do to help?"

"Not a thing, Bob dear. You see, I had this whole dinner ready this morning, and I have warmed it all up in the oven. I have discovered that croquettes are exactly as good when fried in the morning, and so are veal cutlets. And wait till you try the cauliflower!"

[174]

"I trust you, Bettina," said Bob, laughing. "It all looks mighty good to me. Here, I'll help you put it on the table."

For dinner that night they had:

Wipe the meat, place in one and one-half pints of boiling water, to which has been added one level teaspoon of salt. Boil gently until tender (about thirty minutes). Remove from the water and allow to cool until easy to handle. Remove the bone and skin, and cut into pieces for serving. Mix the paprika, salt (one-third of a teaspoon) and the cracker crumbs. Roll each piece of meat in the crumbs, then in the egg, to which the water has been added, and again in the crumbs. Pat the crumbs onto the meat. Arrange the meat on a platter and allow to stand fifteen minutes. Have sufficient fat in a pan to cover articles of food. When the fat is smoking hot, add the veal cutlets, and turn to cook each side. When a delicate brown (after about five minutes), remove and drain on paper. Keep hot in the oven. Place the veal cutlets on a platter and arrange baked apples around the edges. Serve the potato croquettes on the same platter, garnished with parsley.

[175]

Mix the mashed potatoes, celery salt, parsley, onion extract, egg yolk, milk, salt, butter and paprika. Beat two minutes. Shape into balls two inches in diameter. Roll in flour and allow to stand fifteen minutes. Cook in deep fat three minutes or more until a delicate brown. Drain on brown paper and keep hot in a moderate oven.

Soak the cauliflower in cold water to which a tablespoon of vinegar has been added. Cut apart and cook in a quart of water to which salt has been added. Make white sauce and add the cauliflower. Pour into a well-buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered crumbs. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

[176]

CHAPTER LI

"But, Bettina," her mother protested, "isn't it too much work for you? And won't you be going to church?"

"I can't go to church tomorrow, anyhow, for Bob's Uncle Eric is to be in town all morning; he leaves at noon, and the Dixons have offered us their car to take him for a drive. Don't worry, Mother, I'll have a simple dinner—a 'roast beef dinner,' I believe. I often think that is the very easiest kind."

Sunday morning was so beautiful that Bettina could not bear to stay indoors. Accordingly, she set the breakfast table on the porch, even though Uncle Eric protested that it was too far for her to walk back and forth with the golden brown waffles she baked for his especial delight. When he and Bob had eaten two "batches," Uncle Eric insisted that he could bake them himself for a while. He installed Bettina in her chair at the table, and forced waffles upon her till she begged for mercy.

"Gracious!" Bettina exclaimed as she heard the "honk" of the Dixons' automobile at the door. "There are the Dixons already and we have just finished breakfast! Bob, you and Uncle Eric will have to go on without me, for I must get the roast in the oven and do the morning's work."

"Well, I learned today to make waffles," said Uncle Eric.

For dinner that day Bettina served:

[177]

Roll the roast in the flour and set on a rack in a dripping-pan. Place in a hot oven and sear over all sides. Sprinkle the salt over the meat and add the hot water. Cover the meat and cook in a moderate oven. Baste every fifteen minutes. Allow fifteen minutes a pound for a rare roast, and twenty minutes a pound for a well done roast. When properly done, the outside fat is crisp and brown.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Sprinkle with salt. Forty minutes before the roast is to be done, add the potatoes. During the last ten minutes of cooking the lid may be removed from the meat and potatoes to allow all to brown nicely.

Place four tablespoons of beef drippings in a pan, add the flour and allow to brown. Add the rest of the drippings, the water and the salt. Cook two minutes. Serve hot.

Wash and wipe the squash, and cut into halves, then quarters. Remove the seeds. Place the pieces of squash, skin[178] down, in a baking-dish and bake in a moderate oven until tender (about one hour). Remove from the oven, mash up with a fork, and add to each portion one-half a teaspoon of butter, one-fourth a teaspoon of salt, and one-eighth a teaspoon of paprika. Reheat in the oven and serve hot.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and continue to cream the mixture. Add the egg, well beaten, and the chocolate. Mix well. Add the soda and flour sifted together, and the sour milk and vanilla. Beat three minutes. Bake in two layer cake pans prepared with waxed piper for twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

Cook the sugar and water together until it clicks when a little is dropped into a cup of cold water. Pour slowly over the beaten egg whites. Beat vigorously until creamy. Add the vanilla. Pour on one layer of the cake. Place the upper layer on top, and pour the rest of the icing upon it. Spread evenly over the top and over the sides.

[179]

CHAPTER LII

"Liver and bacon don't constitute a very elaborate dinner," said Bettina. "But they taste good for a change. And oh, Bob, tonight I want you to try a new recipe I heard of—peanut fudge. It sounds delicious."

"I'm there," said Bob. "I was just thinking it would be a good candy evening. Then, when the candy is done, we'll assemble under the new reading lamp and eat it."

"Yes, it'll be a good way to initiate the reading lamp! Wasn't it dear of Uncle Eric to give it to us? I kept wondering why he was so anxious to know just what I planned to do with the money I won for my nut bread at the fair. I even took him around and pointed out this particular lamp as the thing I had been saving for. And here it arrived the day after he left, as a gift to me! It was dear of Uncle Eric! But now what on earth shall I do with my fair money?"

"Don't worry about that, Bettina. Put it in the bank."

"But I'd like to get something as sort of a monument to my luck. Have you any particular needs, Bob?"

"Not a need in the world! Except for one more of those fine fruit gems over there."

That night they had for dinner:

[180]

Peel the turnips. Cut into one-half inch cubes. Soak in cold water ten minutes. Cook in boiling water in an uncovered utensil until transparent no longer. Drain and sprinkle with salt. Melt the butter, add the flour and the one-fourth teaspoon salt, blend well, add the milk gradually and cook until creamy. Add the turnips and serve.

Cover slices of calves' liver cut one-half inch thick with boiling water. Allow to stand five minutes. Drain and cut into pieces for serving. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roll in flour. Have a frying pan very hot. Add sliced bacon. When the bacon has cooked on each side, pile up on one side of the pan and add the liver, placing a piece of bacon on top of each portion of liver, thus preventing the bacon from getting too well done, and also seasoning the liver. Brown the liver thoroughly on both sides. (It should be cooked about ten minutes.) Serve hot.

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Break the egg into the milk, stir well, pour into the dry ingredients. Beat vigorously one minute. Add the melted butter and raisins or currants. Bake in nine well buttered gem pans for twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

[181]

Mix the sugar, cream of tartar, chocolate, milk and butter. Cook over a moderate fire until the fudge forms a soft ball when a little is dropped into cold water. Remove from the fire, allow to stand without stirring for twenty minutes. Beat vigorously until creamy. Add the vanilla and peanuts. When very thick remove to a buttered plate. Allow to harden and cut in squares.

[182]

CHAPTER LIII

"Fun?" said Charlotte. "Bettina, look at me! Or better still, look at Frank! And the funny part of it all is that Aunt Isabel thinks our keeping house is a result of her preachments against boarding and hotel living. Why, she quite approves of me now! And I'll just keep quiet and let her feel that she was the one who did it, but all the while in my heart I'll be remembering that it was the sight of your happiness that roused my ambition to make a home myself."

"I tell you," said Mr. Dixon, "we can never thank you enough, Bettina. Now shall I play 'Home Sweet Home' on the piano? And will you all join in the chorus?"

"Not if you sing, too," said Mrs. Dixon, smiling at her husband's foolishness. "I've learned a great deal from you, since I began, Bettina, and not the smallest lesson is that of having company without dreading it. I don't try to make things elaborate, just dainty and simple food such as we have every day. Why, tonight I didn't make a single change for you and Bob! And I don't believe I should dread even Aunt Isabel's sudden arrival now."

"Aunt Isabel is really a good soul, Bettina," said Frank. "Charlotte has never learned how much worse her bark is than her bite, and she takes it to heart when Aunt Isabel speaks her mind. Why, I remember so well the scoldings she used[183] to give me when I was a boy, and the cookies she would manage to treat me with afterward! I used to anticipate those pleasant scoldings!"

"If a scolding always comes before food," said Bob, "Charlotte must have given you an extra good one before inviting us to partake of that delicious-looking chocolate pie!"

That evening they had:

Remove a piece one inch in diameter from the stem end of each tomato. Take out the seeds. Fill the shells with the rice, pepper, cheese, onion and salt, well mixed. Place a small dot of butter on top of each. Place in a small pan and bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

Mix the flour and salt, cut in the lard with a knife, add the liquid slowly, stirring with the knife. More water may be needed. Roll out thin, fit onto a tin pan, prick with holes, and bake in a hot oven until light brown (about seven minutes).

[184]

Mix well the sugar, flour and salt. Add gradually the milk and beaten egg yolks. Cook in a double boiler fifteen minutes. Add the melted chocolate. Cook until thick (about ten minutes), and add the vanilla. Fill the baked shell, and cover with meringue. Place in a moderate oven and cook until the meringue is a delicate brown (about five minutes).

Beat the whites of eggs very stiff. Add the sugar. Pile lightly on the chocolate mixture. Brown in the oven. Chocolate pie should be served cold.

[185]

CHAPTER LIV

With each course an enormous motto, supposedly of the "Don'ts for School Girls' Series," was brought in ceremoniously on a tray and suspended from the chandelier over the table, until finally five huge, if foolish, "Don'ts" were dangling there for Bernadette's inspection.

With the last course, Ruth, in the postman's hat, coat and bag, brought in an endless supply of letters for Bernadette, to be opened at such times as "When You Meet Your Impossible Room-mate," "When You Feel the First Pangs of Homesickness,"[186] "When Reprimanded by a Horrid Old Teacher", "When Forced to Mend Your Own Stockings," etc.-

Bernadette seized them all delightedly, glanced at the covers and cried out, half in laughter, half in tears, "Oh, girls, I simply can't go 'way off there! I'll die!" Her friends fell upon her with scoldings and hugs, and in the midst of the noise and clamor, Ruth and Bettina slipped out to laugh and talk over Ruth's first serious culinary effort.

The menu consisted of:

Mix the chicken, celery salt, lemon juice, parsley, salt and thick white sauce. Shape into croquettes. Roll in cracker crumbs, beaten egg and more crumbs. Deep fry. Serve hot.

Scoop out the contents of the peppers. Mix the corn, salt, egg yolk, milk, bread crumbs, pepper and sugar. Fill the peppers. Dot with butter. Place in a pan and bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Cover the bottom of the pan with water. Baste the peppers frequently.

[187]

Remove the seeds from two cups of California white cherries, and fill with filberts or hazel nuts. Arrange on crisp lettuce leaves, and serve with salad dressing.

Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add cold milk gradually, mixing well. Melt the chocolate in the hot water, and add it to the other mixture. Cook in the double boiler ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Beat three minutes. Add the stiffly beaten white and the vanilla. Mould, chill and serve. If the chocolate does not melt in the hot water, cook over the fire a minute. Whipped cream may be served with the pudding.

[188]

CHAPTER LV

"That's dear of you, Bettina. Oh, how queer it will seem to have everyone know about it! You must let me help with the luncheon, of course."

"No, indeed, Alice! Ruth and I are going to do it all alone, and the guest of honor is not to lift a finger! You can advise us, of course, but you mustn't arrive that day till everything is ready. I want to tell you about a few plans I've made. I wish I could consult Harry, too."

"But he won't be at the announcement party!"

"No, but he's the leading man in the drama, and important even when off the stage. Let's telephone him to come here to dinner tonight. It is so warm that I have planned only a lunch, but we can set the porch table and have a jolly informal time. Do call him up, Alice."

"I'd love to, of course, if you really want us."

"Indeed I do, but we'll have to hurry, for it's after five now."

"I'll help you," said Alice, after Harry had given his hearty acceptance. "Let me fix the salad."

"All right, and I'll stir up some little tea cakes. It's better not to cut those beets too small, Alice; it makes them soft.[189] I never add them till just before I serve the salad. There, that's fine! Do you want to fix the parsley to garnish the ham? Ham looks so much better with parsley that I never fail to garnish it. I have nasturtiums for the center of the table, and we'll garnish the salad with them, too."

"It will be a festive little meal. What else can I do while you're baking the tea cakes?"

"You can make the iced tea, Alice. You do everything so easily and deftly that I love to watch you. And you have never cooked at all until lately, have you?"

"No, but I really like it. Wouldn't it be a joke if I should become very domestic?"

"Well, your fate is pointing in that direction! Time is swiftly passing, and in a few short weeks—Alice, shall I call off the announcement luncheon?"

"Oh, no, no, Bettina! Let fate do her worst! I'm resigned."

Supper that night consisted of:

Mix the beets, potatoes, celery, egg, cucumber and salt very lightly together with a fork. Mix with salad dressing. Serve in a bowl garnished with nasturtium leaves and flowers.

[190]

Sift and mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a "well" in the center of the mixture and pour in the melted butter, egg, milk and vanilla. Stir all together and beat vigorously for two minutes. Fill well buttered muffin pans half full of the mixture and bake fifteen minutes in a moderate oven.

[191]

CHAPTER LVI

"Not a thing, Ruth dear. You've worked too hard all this afternoon, I'm afraid. Now we're going to sit down to a good hot dinner, and tell Bob all about our preparations."

"M—m! Something smells good!" said Ruth. "I've been so busy with all these cunning things that I haven't even thought of eating. But now that you mention it, I'll admit that I have a fine healthy appetite."

"Well, dinner is almost ready, and Bob will be here any minute. It's all in the oven except the corn: meat loaf, sweet potatoes and apricot cobbler."

"Oh, how good it sounds! More sensible than all our fluffy dishes for the announcement luncheon. But then, I do love fluffy things. I'm sure Alice will like it, and all the others, too. Makes me 'most wish I'd kept my engagement a secret, and announced it with ceremony as Alice is doing. But I couldn't, somehow."

"No, you couldn't, Ruth, and neither could Fred. He'd give it away if you didn't. So I guess there's no use wishing you had kept it. Anyhow, you just suit me as you are. You've been such a dear to help with the luncheon! Goodness, there's Bob now!"

The dinner consisted of:

[192]

Mix the ground beef and salt pork, add the onion salt, fresh crumbs, egg, salt, pepper and tomato. Mix thoroughly. Shape into a loaf which will fit into a small buttered pan. Add the water and pour fat drippings over the top. (Bacon fat is good.) Cover the pan, and allow to cook in the oven one-half hour. Uncover the loaf, basting frequently, and brown it. This will take fifteen or twenty minutes. Serve hot. More water may be added while cooking if necessary.

Peel the potatoes, salt them with one-fourth a teaspoon of salt in each potato, and place them in the pan with the meat. This gives the potatoes a good flavor.

Mix the apricots, one tablespoon flour and cinnamon. Mix and sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with a knife. Add the milk until a soft dough is formed. Place the apricot mixture in a baking-dish and the dough on top of the apricots. Cook the water and sugar together for three minutes. Add the vanilla. When the cobbler has baked fifteen minutes pour syrup over it. Bake ten minutes more in a moderate oven.

[193]

CHAPTER LVII

"Let's not examine it too closely," said Bettina. "You know a rainbow after all is nothing but drops of water with the sun shining through, and maybe my rainbow table has a prosy explanation, too."

From the low mass of variegated garden flowers in the center—pink, yellow, lavender, orange, blue, and as many others as the girls could find—ran strips of soft tulle in rainbow colors. The strips were attached at the outer end to the dainty butterflies which perched lightly on the tulle covered candy cups. These candy cups held pink, lavender and green Jordan almond candies. More butterflies in all sizes and colors hovered among the flowers. Upon the plain white name cards, little butterflies had been outlined in black and decorated in butterfly colors. Ruth and Bettina had cut with the scissors around this outline and then, when it had been cut almost away, had folded back the butterfly so that it stood up on the card, as ready for flight as its brothers and sisters.

"Aren't they cunning?" exclaimed Barbara, taking her butterfly from her favor cup. "Goodness, it's attached to something!"[194] Pulling gently by the rainbow tulle to which the butterfly had been pasted, she drew forth from the greenery in the center a little golden bag. It was in reality a little fat bag of soft yellow silk tied with gold cord and holding something that, seen through the mesh, appeared to be—gold?

The other girls, in great excitement, drew forth their little bags.

"Rice!" declared Mary, "though it looks yellow!"

"It's the bag of gold at the foot of the rainbow!" exclaimed Ruth, with flushed cheeks. "Discovered by——"

"Harry Harrison and Alice!" cried the girls, laughing almost hysterically. For one small card which read, "Discovered by" and the two names, in gold letters, was tied to the little bag by the gold cord.

"Alice, how did you ever manage to keep it a secret?" asked someone.

"Well, it would have been harder if you had all known Harry, but you see, we haven't been with the crowd much lately, have we? Now admit it! You haven't even missed me!"

"But you're more of a butterfly than any of the rest of us. And the limits of the old crowd don't always bound your flutterings."

"I'm not a butterfly anymore," said Alice. "I suppose I'll have a butterfly wedding (Harry will detest it, but he'll have to give in that once), but after that I expect to be as domestic as Bettina here, though not such a success at it, probably. Aren't these orange baskets the prettiest things?"

The girls, in their excitement, had almost forgotten to eat, but now they looked down at their plates. Fruit cups in orange baskets, with handles of millinery wire twisted with pink, green, yellow and violet tulle, added to the rainbow effect. The baskets were placed on paper doilies on tea plates, and were artistically lined with mint leaves.

"It looks too pretty to eat," said Dorothy.

"Ruth will feel hurt if you don't like it, but I know you will," said Bettina. "She prepared this course, and made most of the table decorations, too."

[195]

"And didn't you wish that you were announcing something yourself, Ruth?" asked Mary. "Although I don't believe the crowd could stand two such surprises! We've known Fred and you so long that your engagement seems the natural thing, but when a perfectly strange man like Mr. Harrison happens by, and helps himself to one of our number—well, it certainly takes my breath away! Where did you first meet him, Alice? Was it love at first sight?"

"Love at first sight? Bob introduced us—here, in this very house, and I thought—well—I thought Harry the most disagreeably serious man I'd ever had the misfortune to meet! And he thought me the most disagreeably frivolous girl he had ever seen! So our feud began, and of course we had to see each other to fight it out!"

"And then comes Bettina's rainbow luncheon to show us how serious the feud proved to be," laughed Barbara. "What? More courses, Bettina? This is a beautiful luncheon! I wonder who'll be the next to discover the treasure at the foot of the rainbow?"

The menu consisted of:

[196]

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly, picking the fish apart with a silver fork. Mould firmly in a loaf. Roll in flour, and place in a buttered bread pan. Dot with butter, and bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. This same recipe may be distributed among fancy individual moulds, filled half full. Arrange a star-shaped piece of pimento, green pepper, beet or egg in the bottom of a fancy aluminum mould. An attractive design may be made by putting the star cut from any vegetable with radiating pieces of any other kind of vegetable of a different color. Place the design firmly on the fish. Set the moulds in a pan of hot water and bake until the mixture is firmly set. (About thirty minutes.) Remove from the oven, let moulds stand three minutes, and then, with the assistance of a knife, slip them from the pan, unmould all the moulds in one flat pan, and keep them hot until needed. Do not forget that the mould must be thoroughly buttered before using. When ready to serve, make a regular vegetable white sauce (two T-butter, 2 T-flour, 1 C-milk, ¼ t-salt). When ready to serve and while steaming hot, add one beaten egg yoke. The hot sauce will cook the egg. Pour around the mould.

[197]

CHAPTER LVIII

"No, Ruth helped me a great deal, and by the time Bob came home to dinner, the luncheon dishes were washed and put away and the house was in apple-pie order."

"Everything tasted delicious, Bettina. Maybe it sounds altogether too practical for my own announcement party, but I'm armed with a pencil and a notebook, and I do want to get some of those recipes of yours!"

"You're welcome to them all, Alice, of course. They are all recipes that I have used over and over again, and I'm sure of them."

"What kind of soup was it? Celery? I thought so. Wasn't it hard to prepare?"

"Why, Alice, it was canned celery soup, diluted with hot milk. Then I added a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and a teaspoonful of chopped red pepper."

"But surely it had whipped cream in it, Bettina!"

"Yes, I put a teaspoonful of whipped cream in the bottom of the bouillon cup and poured the hot soup on it, so that it would be well mixed."

"Well, that accounts for it; I thought it must be made with whipped cream. Oh, Bettina, everything was so pretty! The tulle bows on the baskets holding the wafers and the rolls—and[198] the butterflies perched on them! How did you ever think of it?"

"Well, butterflies are a happy choice for decorations! They can be put anywhere, and they are easy to make—at least Ruth says so."

"You use paper doilies a great deal, don't you! Aren't they expensive?"

"Expensive? Well, I wish you'd price them! They are so inexpensive that I like to use them even for a very informal meal; they add such a dainty touch, I think."

"I must write down the recipes for your tuna loaf, and green peppers stuffed with cauliflower, and Russian dressing—and oh, that wonderful kind of rainbow dessert! Bettina, what was that dessert?"

"Marshmallow cream made with gelatine and cream and marshmallows and whites of eggs. I puzzled a long time over a real 'rainbow' dessert, and finally decided on marshmallow cream with a few variations. Come into the kitchen, where I keep my card index, and I'll get all the recipes for you."

Boil potatoes of uniform size with the skins on. When cold, peel, roll in crumbs, to which salt has been added and then the beaten egg and crumbs. Deep fry in very hot fat.

Cut a thin slice from the stem end of each large green pepper and remove the seeds. Parboil ten minutes, and fill with creamed cauliflower and buttered crumbs. Bake until the skins are tender, basting occasionally with butter and water.

[199]

Soften the gelatin in milk for five minutes, and dissolve by setting the dish in boiling water. Add the sugar. Allow the mixture to cool. When it begins to congeal, add the flavorings. Beat in the whipped cream, and continue beating until it is firm. Fold in the egg-white and the marshmallows cut in cubes. When the mixture begins to set, pile lightly in sherbet cups. Place one-half of a toasted marshmallow on the top, and arrange pecan meats and candied cherries in a conventional design. Set aside one hour to cool and harden.

Bettina colored the mixture with vegetable coloring of a very delicate green. Then on the top she placed a teaspoonful of white whipped cream, then the toasted marshmallow and the different fruits. Bettina browned the marshmallows quickly in the oven, after she had cut them the desired shape. She used cups with handles, and decorated them with fluffy bows of variegated tulles. To make these bows, she took strips of each color desired, one inch wide, tied them together, and "fluffed them out." She might have gained a real rainbow effect by dividing the marshmallow cream (when mixed, but not yet firm) into three bowls, and coloring them green, lavender and pink, with delicate vegetable colors. Then, having beaten in the whipped cream, she might have placed in each sherbet cup three layers, pink, lavender and green. Then, on the top, she might have placed the whipped cream.

[200]

CHAPTER LIX

"Sure, sure, sure!" said Ruth, emphatically. "I may be silly, Bettina, but to me such a fuss beforehand takes something away from the beauty of the wedding! And then there are other reasons. We've had to postpone building till next summer, and may not be married till the house is done—you know that. So we'll have been engaged a long time. It seems to me that after a long engagement like ours, it is better to have a simple wedding and no parties. Alice's is happening just as I always expected that it would—a surprising announcement, a short engagement, and many parties, with an elaborate wedding as the climax! Sometimes I think that sort would be the kind to have—but you see, Bettina, when you're expecting to be married only once, you want to have just the kind that seems best to you."

"And yours will be just right for you, Ruth," said Bettina, warmly. "You are you, and Fred is Fred, and I can't imagine either of you caring for much excitement. And when you are in your new house——"

"I'm going to have you over at least once a week to just such a dear little luncheon as this! Or rather—as much like it as I can devise. Bettina, how did you have time to cook such good things?"

"Well," said Bettina, "Bob will have these same things for[201] dinner tonight, with the addition of some cold sliced meat. So now, Ruth, we have a long afternoon before us—to sew and talk!"

Bettina's luncheon consisted of:

Mix all the ingredients in order given and serve on lettuce leaves.

Mix well the graham flour, white flour, soda and salt. Add the molasses and sour milk; mix thoroughly. Pour into two well-buttered bread tins, and bake forty minutes in a moderate oven.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and egg-yolks; mix thoroughly. Add the orange rind. Add the baking powder, salt and flour sifted together and then the orange juice and milk. Mix, and beat one minute. Add the egg-whites beaten stiffly, and the lemon extract. Bake in two square cake tins fitted with waxed paper for twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

[202]

Mix the flour, sugar and salt well; add slowly the egg-yolk and the grated rind, the orange juice and water. Cook slowly over hot water for ten minutes, or until thick enough to spread. Add the lemon juice or lemon extract. Spread on one layer of cake. Place the other layer carefully on the top and spread Quick Cake Icing over the top and sides of the cake.

[203]
[204]

OCTOBER.

[205]

CHAPTER LX

"Come in! Come in!" cried ten girls at once, while Bettina whispered to Ruth: "Thank goodness, she's come! The muffins are all but done!"

"What in the world!" said Alice.

"A party for you!"

"And I'm wearing my old suit!"

"We caught you this time, but never mind. Come in, and take off your things."

As soon as Alice reappeared in the living room, a small table was drawn up before the open fire. Two girls appeared, wearing gingham aprons and carrying overflowing market baskets.

"This is a kitchen shower for you, Alice," Ruth explained somewhat ceremoniously. "But if you are willing, we will use the utensils in serving the luncheon and afterwards present them to you. May we unpack the baskets?"

"Do," said Alice, laughing.

From the larger basket, Ruth removed twelve white enamelled plates of different sizes (suitable for holding supplies in the refrigerator), and twelve cross-barred tea towels. The[206] latter she passed around to be used as napkins, and Mary distributed the plates. On the small serving table before the fire, a white muslin table cover was placed. As she unfolded it, Ruth read from the attached card:

When the steel forks and spoons of various sizes were taken out and passed around, two glass measuring cups were found to hold loaf sugar wrapped in frilled paper. Upon one of these Ruth read:

A glass rolling-pin filled with stick candy came next, and its sentiments read, and meanwhile the girls had begun to read aloud the advice pinned upon the tea-towels, such as:

"What vindictive dish-towels!" said Alice. "They're not a bit sentimental!"

When the contents had been removed and all the verses read, the large basket was presented to Alice, who read from its handle:

[207]

"I will, Mr. Basket, with you over my arm!" answered Alice.

Meanwhile the girls had carried in the salad in an earthenware mixing-bowl, the muffins heaped high in a small basket with a dainty dustcloth over them, the coffee in a large enamelled pitcher, and the "molasses puffs" wrapped in frilled paper in a basket suitable for holding supplies. "Bettina's apples" were arranged in two flat enamelled pans. All the food was served informally from the small table, and the merriment grew as the luncheon progressed.

"I wish that all the meals Harry and I have together might be as jolly as this one! I'm sure I should be glad to eat always from kitchen dishes, if that is what makes the fun," said Alice.

At the kitchen shower, the luncheon was as follows:

Mix all the ingredients in the order named. Serve the salad very cold on crisp lettuce leaves.

Heat the vinegar, add the cloves, sugar, salt and pepper.[208] Pour over the beets, cut in one-third inch slices. Allow to stand one hour before serving.

Mix the molasses and sugar. Add the hot water and fat. Beat well, add the egg and mix thoroughly. Sift the ginger, cinnamon, flour and soda together, and add to the rest of the ingredients, mixing well. Fill well-buttered muffin pans three-fourths full. Bake in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes. Ice with "C" sugar icing.

Cook the sugar and water together until it "clicks" when a little is dropped into cold water. Pour the syrup slowly over the stiffly beaten egg whites. Beat vigorously until cool and creamy. Add the vanilla and spread on the cakes. If the icing gets hard before it is cool, add two tablespoons of water and continue beating. The secret of good icing is steady, constant beating.

Wash, peel and core the apples. Place in a broad flat pan in which the sugar and water have been thoroughly mixed. Cook the apples, turning often until tender, remove from the syrup and place in a serving dish. Fill the center with one-half a marshmallow. Add the cinnamon and butter to the syrup and cook five minutes or until it thickens. Pour over and around the apples. Decorate with a marshmallow cut into fourths. Serve warm.

[209]

CHAPTER LXI

"They called off our trip on account of the weather. And I supposed you'd be at your mother's!"

"It was raining so that I decided to build a cozy little fire in the fireplace and stay at home."

"Well, I'm glad you're here! I was expecting to come home to a cold, dark house, and this is much more cheerful."

"And I expected not to see you till midnight, so I'm well suited too! But, Bobby, you mustn't complain if I give you a 'pick-up meal.' I expected to eat only a lunch myself."

"I don't care what you give me, just so it's hot. My walk through the rain has given me an appetite. I'll help you get supper and wash the dishes, Bettina, and then afterward we'll pop corn and toast marshmallows by the fire. What do you say?"

"Fine, Bob! I cooked some celery today—just a little—and I think I'll fix 'celery au gratin' for you. The cooky-jar is full of rocks——"

"A full cooky-jar! Bettina, that ought to be the symbol of our happy home. May it always be full!"

"You're altogether too oratorical for a staid married man, Bob. Well, as I was saying, here is apple sauce, and I'll soon have some emergency biscuit stirred up. Then with scrambled eggs——"

[210]

"Hurry, Bettina! My appetite grows with every dish you mention!"

They had a meal of:

Beat the eggs slightly; add milk, salt and paprika. Melt the butter in a frying pan or omelet pan. When hot, add the egg mixture, and cook slowly, scraping from bottom and sides of the pan when mixture first sets. Cook until creamy, or longer if preferred. If desired, the egg may be constantly "scrambled" with a fork while cooking. Turn into a hot dish and serve at once.

Cook the celery in a small amount of water at a low temperature, as too fast boiling makes it tough. Simmer until tender.

Melt the butter, add the flour and blend well. Add the milk and stock, pepper and salt. Add the cheese. Allow to cook until it is the consistency of a thin vegetable white sauce. Add the celery. Place in a hot oven for fifteen minutes.

(Bettina uses a part of the water in which the celery is simmered to make up the cup of combined milk and celery stock. The remainder of the celery stock she saves for soup.)

[211]

Cream the butter, add the sugar, and cream the mixture. Add the eggs, well beaten, and the remaining dry ingredients (except nuts and raisins) sifted together. Mix well. Add the nut meats and chopped raisins, and vanilla. The mixture should be very stiff. Drop from a spoon onto flat buttered pans or preferably onto a buttered baking sheet. Bake about twelve minutes in a moderate oven.

(Bettina keeps rocks in a stone jar, and finds that they keep well, and are really better when a day old.)

[212]

CHAPTER LXII

"Shame on you, Alice! Don't pretend to be so humble. You do everything so easily that I'll not be surprised to see you papering your own house and acting as your own plumber and doing every other hard thing. A useless butterfly like you who turns out to be so competent after all is the despair of all us plodders who have always plodded and always will!" And Ruth sighed.

"Never mind, Ruthie," said Bettina. "I've eaten a mighty fine luncheon that you cooked yourself—four or five courses, if I haven't forgotten!"

"Yes, and I worried every minute during that day!"

"We all do at first, except maybe Alice!"

"Why worry?" said Alice. "(Seems to me I've heard that expression before.) You girls won't die if the biscuits do fail—I'll give you bread. Harry and I are going to laugh at our own mistakes—and enjoy them. Isn't that a good philosophy? But, girls, to get down to biscuits. I want to ask you—one and all—collectively and individually, to be in my wedding party. With the addition of Sister, who isn't here. She and Bettina will be the matrons of honor. Will you?"

[213]

"Will we!" they all cried with enthusiasm.

The luncheon menu was as follows:

Break the salmon apart carefully with a silver fork, add the diced celery, sweet pickles, salt and hard-cooked eggs. Mix together well, and add the salad dressing. Arrange on lettuce leaves in a salad bowl, garnish with hard-cooked eggs to represent daisies, and pickles cut in strips. Serve very cold. (To represent daisies, cut the whites of each hard-cooked egg in six long petals. Arrange these on the salad. Cut the yolks in half, and place in the center—round side out. Arrange the pickle to represent stem and leaves.)

Remove beans from the can and rinse with cold water. Add water, salt, paprika and butter. Cook over a moderate fire for three minutes. Serve.

Place the water and butter in a sauce pan. Heat to the boiling point, then add the flour, all at once, and stir till smooth. Cook till the paste comes away from the sides of the pan. (A[214] very short time.) Remove from fire, and when cold, add the unbeaten eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each egg is added. (The mixture should be stiff enough to hold its shape without spreading.) Chill the paste by placing in the ice-box and then drop by tablespoonsful on a buttered sheet. Bake thirty-five minutes in a hot oven. When cold, make an opening in the side of each and fill with cream filling.

Mix the sugar, salt, cornstarch and flour. Gradually add the milk and egg. Cook until very thick, in a double boiler. Add the butter and vanilla. Beat one minute. Cool before using.

[215]

CHAPTER LXIII

"Fine," said Bob. "Come out to the dining-room and talk till we're through."

"And then I'll help Bettina clear off the table," said Charlotte. "Well, people, it looks like a good dinner, and Sherlock Holmes deduces, moreover, that you had roast lamb yesterday for your Sunday dinner."

"You might also deduce that we had baked potatoes, from which these creamed ones are made," laughed Bettina. "Nothing else to guess at, except that part of a cabbage made cold slaw yesterday and escalloped cabbage today. And my dessert, while simple, has no secret past," she added as she removed the first course. "A plain and simple custard, that's all."

"Suits me," said Bob, heartily, "especially when it's cold like this."

"By the way, Bettina," said Charlotte, "did you ever get rid of those black ants you were telling me about?"

"Yes, I've never seen one since."

"Well, you know how worried I was about the little red ones that bothered me. Aunt Isabel, in a letter, gave me a remedy that has worked like magic."

"Aunt Isabel has her uses, after all," teased Frank.

[216]

"I should say she has! She knows all about housekeeping, from A to Z! Her remedy sounds queer, but I can vouch for its efficacy, so if anyone ever asks you what to do for red ants, you tell them this, Bettina. I took some covers from baking powder cans, and some Mason jar covers, and some pie tins, and chalked the sides well with common school crayon. Then I set them on the pantry shelves to hold dishes of whatever kinds of food the ants liked. The ants never climbed over those chalked covers and soon they had all disappeared. I don't have to use the chalked tins any more, but if I ever see a red ant in my pantry again, I'll get out the chalk."

"Couldn't you make a heavy chalk mark on the shelf paper around the dish of food?" asked Bob.

"I tried that, but it didn't do any good. But the other way worked beautifully."

"I'm glad to know about it," said Bettina. "Well, Bob, are you ready? It will take only a few minutes to carry out the dishes and pile them up. I'm sorry we've kept you people waiting."

For dinner that night they had:

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt, and mix well. Slowly pour over the milk and cook until creamy. Add the cabbage. Pour into a buttered baking dish. Add bread crumbs to melted butter, and place the buttered crumbs on the cabbage. Bake in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes, or until the crumbs are browned.

[217]

Peel the tomatoes and onions, and chop separately very fine. Chop the pepper also, and add the salt, sugar and cinnamon. Mix all the ingredients together and add the vinegar. Cook one and one-half hours over a moderate fire, stirring sufficiently to prevent sticking. Bottle, and when cool, seal with paraffin.

Beat the eggs slightly, add the sugar and milk slowly. Add salt and flavoring. Stir well. Pour into well-buttered cups. Sprinkle the nutmeg gratings on the top. Set the cups in a pan of hot water and bake in a moderate oven until a knife comes out clean upon piercing the custard (about thirty-five minutes). Do not allow the water in the pan to boil. Serve the custard cold, removing from the cups just before ready to serve. The custards may be served in cups.

[218]

CHAPTER LXIV

"My dear, I'd love to, but——"

"I'm going to have baking powder biscuits, and I remember that you were longing to learn how to make them."

"Oh, Bettina! Would you really show me? I'll simply have to come, then. I hesitated because Aunt Martha is here, but I know she'll excuse me for one evening. What time is it? Five? I'll take these packages home and be back in fifteen minutes!"

When Ruth returned she found Bettina in her kitchen with all of the ingredients for the biscuits set out on the table.

"Perhaps two cups of flour will make too many for three people," she said, "but Bob has a good-sized appetite these crisp fall days, and he's fond of biscuits with jelly. Now, Ruth, you can get to work! Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, and then cut the lard in this way with this knife.... Fine! Now add the milk very slowly—perhaps it will take a little more than two-thirds of a cup, it all depends on the flour. There! Now pat the dough into shape on this floured board, and then you can cut the biscuits out with this little cutter. Yes, about three-fourths of an inch thick. Ruth, those look fine! We'll wait a little while to bake them, they're better perfectly fresh. Set them out in the cold, there, until I have fixed the macaroni, and they can pop into the oven at the same time."

"That was so easy, Bettina. I do hope those biscuits will be good!"

[219]

The dinner consisted of:

Cook the macaroni in the boiling salted water until tender. (About fifteen minutes.) Drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add the milk and cheese. Cook three minutes. Add the macaroni. Mix well, and pour into a well-buttered baking dish. Place in a moderate oven and cook twenty minutes.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt, and cut in the fat with a knife. Slowly add the milk. (More or less may be required, as it depends on the flour.) Pat into shape three-fourths of an inch thick. Cut with a cutter, place side by side on a tin pan. Bake in a hot oven twelve to fifteen minutes.

Soak the pearl tapioca in the cold water for ten minutes in the upper part of the double boiler. Add the boiling water, salt and sugar. Cook in the double boiler until transparent. Add one cup of apple sauce and the vanilla. Mix well. Serve either hot or cold.

[220]

CHAPTER LXV

"Don't wait, then. (Say, these are my favorite potatoes, all right!) Well, what about the wedding? All the gowns are being made, I suppose?"

"Yes, indeed. You know the four bridesmaids are to wear lavender maline over lavender taffeta, very fluffy and short,—can you picture them in your mind, Bob?"

"Not exactly, but then, go on."

"Well, they're nearly finished. I saw them today, and they're lovely. The girls are to carry lavender maline muffs, too—the round kind with fluffy bows at each end, and little pink rosebuds around the hand, you know. Then a corsage bouquet of violets with a pink rose in the center will be pinned on each muff. The bridesmaids will also wear lavender maline hats, with fluffy tarn o' shanter crowns and pink rosebuds around them."

"Is that what you'll wear?"

"No, Lillian and I are the matrons of honor, and we will be all in white, with white muffs, and corsage bouquets of pink roses on them. Won't that be lovely? I don't know yet whether Lillian's little Elizabeth, who will scatter rose petals from a fluffy long-handled basket, is to wear pink or white. Oh, I wish you might have seen the girls this afternoon! We tried on our dresses and planned the hats and muffs. I shall[221] begin my muff this evening; won't that be exciting?"

For dinner that night they had:

Melt the butter, add the flour, cheese and salt. Mix well, and add the milk gradually. Cook until thick and creamy. Add the pimento and potatoes. Serve hot. (Bob considers this dish superfine.)

Mix the ingredients in the order given. Place in a well-buttered bread pan, and bake in a moderate oven for thirty-five minutes.

Cream the butter, add the sugar. Stir in the egg and beat well. Add the cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, cocoa, flour, vanilla and water. Beat vigorously for two minutes. Bake in well-buttered gem pans for eighteen minutes. Serve warm if desired.

[222]

CHAPTER LXVI

"Why, Jack, when did you come to town?"

"This afternoon. Went to Bob's office the very first thing, and he insisted on bringing me home with him to dinner. I told him it might 'put you out,' but he spent the time it took to come home assuring me that you were always waiting for company—kept a light ever burning in the window for them and all that. He said that I'd see,—that you'd be on the doorstep waiting for us!"

"And after all that—you weren't here!" said Bob reproachfully.

"I'm just as sorry as I can be not to live up to Bob's picture of me," said Bettina. "I generally am waiting for Bob,—almost on the doorstep if not quite. But this afternoon I've been to a shower for Alice,—do you remember Alice, Jack?"

"Very well. The gay dark-eyed one. You don't mean to say that she's found a man who's lively enough to suit her?"

"Well, she seems to be suited, all right. But I must fly into an apron if you boys are to get any dinner within a half-hour. Jack, you'll have to pardon me if after all of Bob's eloquence I give you a meal of left-overs——"

"Don't apologize to a bachelor, Bettina. He probably won't know left-overs from the real thing," said Bob.

"Bachelors are said to be the most critical of all," she answered. "But I'll do my little best to please."

That night Bettina served:

[223]

Mix the beef, gravy, potato and onion. Place in a shallow buttered baking dish. Make a biscuit dough by cutting the lard into the flour, which has been sifted with the baking powder, and salt, and gradually adding the milk. Pat the dough into shape and arrange carefully on top of the meat. Make holes in the top to allow the steam to escape. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.

Cream together and divide into two parts, half for light and half for dark.

Mix this together thoroughly and set aside while the light part is being mixed.

To the other half of the butter and sugar add:

Put large spoonfuls of light and dark batter, alternating, in a loaf cake pan well fitted with waxed paper, until the pan is two-thirds full. Bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

[224]

CHAPTER LXVII

"But Bettina helped with the soufflé and the gold hearts," she said gallantly. "Did you see her disappear a short time ago? She was baking the cakes. When she suggested refreshments that should be made just before they were served, I was frightened. But when she offered to bake the things, you may be sure I was delighted."

At this moment a small figure appeared in the doorway. "Weady, Cousin Wuth?"

"Yes, dear."

In popped little Marjorie, Ruth's cousin, carrying a huge bouquet of handkerchiefs folded like white roses, fastened somehow to long stems with green leaves attached, tied with streaming yellow satin ribbon. Making a low bow to Alice, she recited in a baby voice:

"Thank you, you darling!" said Alice, receiving the gift with delight.

[225]

Ruth served:

Wash the dried apricots and soak for three hours in sufficient water to cover them. Cook slowly until tender (about ten minutes) in the same water in which they were soaked. Press through a colander, add the sugar and cook until very thick, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add salt and extract. Allow to cool. Beat the egg whites until very stiff, add the baking-powder, apricots and vanilla. Stir just enough to mix. Pour into well buttered individual tin or aluminum moulds until two-thirds full. Place the moulds in a pan of hot water and bake thirty-five minutes in a slow oven. Turn off the fire and allow the pans to remain in a warm place so that they will not fall. When slightly cool, remove carefully and serve as quickly as possible. Place whipped cream and a candied cherry on the top.

Beat the cream until thick, add the sugar, vanilla and lemon extract. Place in a cool place until used.

[226]

Cream the butter, add the sugar, and mix well. Add the egg yolks, beaten well, and the water, milk, flour, baking-powder, lemon extract and salt. Beat for two minutes. Pour into a large flat pan prepared with waxed paper. The batter should be three-fourths of an inch thick in the pan. Bake twelve minutes in a moderate oven. Remove the paper, and cut when cool with a heart-shaped cooky cutter. Wet the cutter with water before using, as this assures even edges. Keep in a moist place until ready to serve.

Allow the almonds to stand in boiling water in a covered utensil for fifteen minutes. Rinse off with hot water and place in a colander. Remove the skins. Place oil in a frying-pan when hot, add nuts. Stir constantly over a moderate fire for fifteen minutes. Pour into a clean cloth. Rub off any oil which has remained on the almonds. Sprinkle salt over the nuts while warm. When thoroughly cooled, place the almonds in a covered tin can until ready to serve.

[227]

CHAPTER LXVIII

"Bob!" said Bettina reproachfully. "If I thought you really believed that I was ever bored by a dinner for the two of us,—well, I'd never be in a wedding party again! Alice likes excitement, and I suppose that next week will be very gay, but after the wedding I hope that you and I can have a quiet winter, with just invitations enough to keep us from becoming too stupid."

"But tell me what the wedding will be like. Is it all planned down to the last detail? I suppose it is, although Harry doesn't seem to have any idea what it is to be."

"Poor Harry, he seems to be left out of most of the showers and parties so far."

"Don't pity him; he wouldn't go if he could. I'm just wondering what they'll do after the wedding. Will Alice go and Harry stay at home? Or, will he be obliging and force himself to go, too?"

"I don't know, I'm sure. Alice is so full of life that I don't see how she can settle down and never go anywhere, as Harry would have her. But time will tell. Perhaps they'll compromise. Meanwhile, we must plan some sort of a shower or prenuptial party that Harry can enjoy, too. One with the men included, I mean. Of course, I know he hates parties, but I[228] think he would really like a very jolly informal one with just a few friends!"

The dinner for two consisted of:

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt, gradually add the milk. Cook two minutes. Add the peas and carrots. Serve very hot.

Mix the flour, baking-powder and salt, cut in the lard with a knife. Add the liquid, mixing to a soft dough. Roll on a well floured board to one-fourth of an inch in thickness. Wash, pare and quarter the apples. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Cut the dough in five inch squares; place two quarters of apple in the center of a square; moisten the edges of the dough with water and bring the four corners together around the apple. Place in a tin pan and bake in a moderate oven until the apples are soft. (About thirty minutes.) Serve warm with cream.

[229]

CHAPTER LXIX

"You have? Another for Alice?"

"No, this was in the country—on the interurban, at Cousin Kate's. Frances, her daughter, who was married last spring, has come home on a visit, and Cousin Kate was entertaining for her."

"Tell me about it!"

"Oh, it was just an informal luncheon, but I couldn't help thinking how delicious everything was, and at the same time inexpensive. In fact, I wrote down several of Cousin Kate's recipes after the guests had gone, and I'm sure that there aren't many such inexpensive luncheons that are also so good."

"You must let me have some of the recipes."

"Of course I will. Come in now, and copy them."

"I can't possibly, Bettina. As it is, I'm afraid that Frank will be home before I am. It's almost six o'clock now."

"Is it? Then I must hurry in and start dinner; I want to make some muffins. I hate to have Bob eat a cold dinner just because I've been out in the afternoon; in fact, I usually spend more time than usual in the morning fixing some dessert that he especially likes, if I'm to be out in the afternoon. Good-bye, Charlotte!"

"Good-bye, dear!"

The luncheon menu was as follows:

[230]

Cut the stem end from the sweet green peppers. Remove the seeds and allow to stand in iced water. Pick over the oysters to remove any shells, and surround with chipped ice until ready to serve. Mix the catsup, lemon juice, horse radish, salt and tabasco sauce. Fill each pepper with four oysters, and put on tablespoon of the mixture on the top. Serve very cold.

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix well, gradually add the milk, cheese and bread crumbs. Cook three minutes, and then stir in the egg, well beaten. Butter six timbale moulds well. Place the cups in a pan of hot water and cook fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. Allow to stand three minutes, and remove from the moulds. Serve hot with creamed peas.

[231]

Mix thoroughly the beans, celery, pimento, egg, salt and paprika. Add the salad dressing and serve on a piece of crisp lettuce.

Cream the butter, add one cup sugar. Mix egg yolks, the other cup sugar, one-half cup milk and chocolate; cook two minutes, stirring constantly. When cool, add this to the first mixture. Add the rest of the milk, vanilla, the flour and soda sifted together. Beat two minutes. Add stiffly beaten egg whites. Fill two tin pans prepared with waxed paper, bake in a moderate oven twenty-five minutes. When cool, ice with white icing.

[232]

CHAPTER LXX

"Oh, for me?" cried Alice. "How important I feel!"

As soon as the girls were seated, Ruth rose and placed before the guest of honor a large wicker basket heaped high with packages of all shapes and sizes, each wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with white ribbon. A card hung from the handle of the basket. "I'll read it aloud!" laughed Alice.

"Goodness!" cried Alice. "The thought of my future cares[233] frightens me! But now I must open all the packages!"

She discovered a salt and pepper shaker, a pair of guest towels, a pair of hose, a sugar bowl and a creamer, and many other gifts in pairs. It was a long time before the girls could calm down sufficiently to eat the luncheon that Bettina, with Ruth's assistance, set before them.

Bettina served:

Mix the tuna, celery, eggs, sweet pickle, pepper, salt and paprika with a silver fork. (Care should always be taken not to mash salads.) Add the salad dressing; more than a cup may be necessary. Keep very cold, and serve attractively on a lettuce leaf.

Beat the egg yolks, add the vinegar. Mix the salt, mustard, sugar, paprika and flour thoroughly. Slowly add the water, taking care not to let the mixture get lumpy. Pour into the yolks and vinegar. Cook slowly, stirring constantly until thick and creamy. Thin with sour cream or whipped cream.

[234]

Mix the flour, baking-powder, sugar, salt and dates ground fine. Beat the egg with a fork, and add the milk. Pour slowly into the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly and pour into two well-buttered bread pans. Allow to stand fifteen minutes and bake forty minutes in a moderate oven. When cold, cut very thin and spread with butter for sandwiches. Date bread is better for sandwiches when one day old.

Cook all the ingredients together until a soft ball is formed when a little is dropped into cold water. Beat until creamy enough to pour on the cake.

Cover the peanuts with boiling water; allow to stand for fifteen minutes. Place one-third of the amount in a strainer (allowing remainder to stay in water) and remove the skins. Prepare all the peanuts the same way. Place two tablespoons of oil in the frying pan, when hot add the peanuts; stir constantly with a fork and cook over a moderate fire fifteen minutes. When brown remove the nuts, add another tablespoon of oil and another third of the peanuts, continue until all the nuts are cooked. Add the salt. Lard may be used in place of oil, but the latter makes the nuts taste and brown better.

[235]

CHAPTER LXXI

"I'm so glad they're coming," said Bettina. "I haven't seen Charlotte for several weeks; I have been so busy with the affairs we girls have been giving for Alice. But I wish I had known this afternoon that they were coming. I'd like to celebrate with a little supper, but I haven't a single thing in the house that is suitable."

"There's the cider that Uncle John brought us," suggested Bob.

"Yes," said Bettina, "we might have cider. But what else?"

"I'll tell you," said Bob, "I'll make some popcorn balls. I've made them before, and I know exactly how."

"I'll help," said Bettina.

"No, I won't need you at all; I'm the chef."

"Well, Bobbie, at least you'll let me look on. May I be washing the dishes at the same time?"

"Yes, I'll permit that. These are going to be champion popcorn balls, I can tell you, Bettina—as big as pumpkins!"

"We'll serve them in that large flat wicker basket, and I'm sure they'll look and taste delicious. But we must hurry, Bob; it's after seven now!"

For dinner that night they had:

[236]

Soak a one-half inch slice of ham in one cup of lukewarm milk for half an hour. Drain and wipe dry. Place in a hot tin pan and cook for five minutes directly under the flame, turning frequently to prevent burning.

Mix the flour, baking-powder and salt. Cut in the lard with a knife, add all but one teaspoonful of the beaten egg, then add the milk gradually. Mix with a knife into a soft dough. Pat into a square shape one-half inch thick. Brush over the top with one teaspoonful of egg and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon (mixed thoroughly). Cut into one and one-half inch squares. Place in a tin pan and bake twelve minutes in a hot oven.

Mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt, and add the cold milk slowly. Gradually add the hot milk. Cook in a double boiler for twenty minutes. Add the prunes, lemon extract and vanilla. Beat well, and serve cold with cream.

[237]

CHAPTER LXXII

No answer.

"Hello, Bettina!" he called again. Again the dark house gave forth no reply.

Feeling, it must be admitted, a little out of harmony with a world that allowed weary and hungry husbands to come home to dark and empty houses when the clock said plainly that it was a quarter after six, Bob made his way to the kitchen. Perhaps Bettina had left his dinner there for him; perhaps she had been called away, or perhaps, even, she had rushed out on some errand after dinner preparations were begun. The kitchen, however, was so immaculate as to seem distinctly forbidding to a hungry man whose appetite was growing keener every minute. And he had been thinking all the way home that a hot dinner would taste so good!

At that moment a clamor of voices at the door aroused him.

"You poor old Bob!" cried Bettina, kissing him twice before Fred and Ruth without the least embarrassment. "Have you waited long?"

"It seemed hours," admitted Bob.

"Ruth and I have been to a tea for Alice. Fred came for her there, and I persuaded them to come home to dinner with me. I'll give you each something to do while I stir up a little cottage pudding. Then dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"Half an hour?" cried Bob. "But, Bettina, where is the dinner? I didn't see any!"

"In the fireless cooker, you crazy boy! Are you 'most starved?"

[238]

"Well," said Bob, "that cooker was the neatest, stiffest-looking thing in the kitchen! I didn't dream that it was busily cooking a dinner. Say, I'll be glad to see a hot meal again!"

The dinner consisted of:

Pound the flour into the round steak with the edge of a small plate. This breaks the fibers of the meat, making it more tender. Wash and peel the potatoes, slicing in half lengthwise. Scrape the carrots, and cut into one-half inch slices lengthwise. Wash the onions and remove their outside skins. Sprinkle the vegetables with one and a half level teaspoons of salt, and the paprika. Add the water, and place in the bottom of the large fireless cooker utensil. Place the lard in a frying pan, and when hot, add the meat. Brown thoroughly on each side. Salt the meat with one-half level teaspoon of salt, and place in the kettle on top of the vegetables. Place the heated disks of the fireless cooker over and under the utensil, and cook at least one hour in the cooker.

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the egg, milk and vanilla, and beat one minute. Add the melted butter, and pour into a well buttered tin pan. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve warm with vanilla sauce.

[239]

Mix the sugar, flour and salt thoroughly. Add the water slowly. Boil two minutes. Add the vanilla, lemon extract, and butter. Beat one minute and serve. If too thick, more water may be added.

[240]

CHAPTER LXXIII

"Not even Harry, Alice?"

"No, not even Harry! I'm so sick and tired of teas and dressmakers and wedding gowns and bridesmaids that I'm tired even of Harry, too! Almost."

"But, Alice, then why do it all? Why have all this fuss and feathers?" And Bettina's knife, with which she was cutting bread, came down with a click of vehemence. "It has always seemed silly to me—all the worry and bother——"

"But what can I do now, Bettina? I've started, and I'll have to go through with it! Why, even now, I ought to be home for dinner—mother has several guests—but I phoned her that I had a headache and was coming here, where I could be quiet. And I do have a headache—and no appetite, and——"

"Just wait till you taste this nice brown meat that I have in the oven, Alice! The trouble with you is that you've been eating silly party food for such a long time. And tonight you are to have a sensible dinner with plain people."

"Plain people? Who calls me plain?" interrupted Bob, coming in like a tornado. "Hello, Alice! How can you spare any time from all these festivities I hear about?"

For dinner that night they had:

[241]