V Bob Helps to Get Dinner

"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 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: Halibut Steak New Potatoes in Cream String Beans Butter Sauce Bread Butter Tomato, Cucumber and Pimento Salad French Dressing Sliced Fresh Pineapple

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level) Halibut Steak (Two portions) 2/3 lb. Halibut Steak 3 T-flour

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½ t-salt ¼ t-paprika

Wash one pound of Halibut steak and wipe dry. Cut in two pieces. Roll in flour, and cook ten minutes in a frying pan in hot fat. Brown on one side, and then on the other. Season with salt and paprika. Serve very hot. String Beans with Butter Sauce (Two portions) 1½ C-string beans 2 C-water 1 T-butter 1 t-salt ¼ t-paprika

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. Tomato, Cucumber and Pimento Salad (Two portions) 1 tomato sliced ½ C-sliced cucumbers 1 T-pimento cut fine 1 t-salt ¼ t-paprika 2 pieces lettuce

Arrange lettuce on serving dishes. Place portions of tomato, cucumber and pimento on the lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and paprika. Serve with French dressing. French Dressing (Two portions) 4 T-olive oil 2 T-vinegar ½ t-salt ¼ t-paprika

Mix ingredients, which have been thoroughly chilled, and beat until the mixture thickens. Pour over the vegetables. Pineapple Sliced (Two portions) 1 pineapple ½ C-sugar

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.

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CHAPTER VI

COUSIN MATILDA CALLS

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"H ELLO, is this you, Bettina? This is Mother! I'll have to speak in a low voice. Who do you think is here? No,—Cousin Matilda! Just between trains, but she says she must see how you are 'situated'! Clementine has such a wonderful establishment now, you know! No, of course not, but I want her to see how happy you are. She seems to have the idea that an 'establishment' is necessary! Just to see the house, you know! I know the porch isn't ready, but don't worry! About three, then. Good-by!"

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 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-greatgrandmother 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?"

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