"Which she is not!" declared Billy. "Tell Mother,--Mary Frances, I can't wait for you to tell your secret!"
"A secret?" smiled Mother. "A secret, Mary Frances?"
"Oh, how good something smells!" said Mother. "It makes me hungry."
"Come right out, then," said Mary Frances, bowing, "Dinner is Served."
[Illustration: "You dear, darling Mother!"]
"Here?" asked her mother. "I im-ag-ined we'd go over to Aunt Maria's."
"No, Mother, dear," laughed Mary Frances, happily; "it's the 'surprise' for you." And they went into the dining-room.
"Wh--wh--why! how did this happen?" asked Mother. "Where did this feast come from?"
Everybody laughed and talked at the same time.
"Mary Frances is guilty," laughed Billy; and Mary Frances "owned up."
"Mother," said she, bringing her worn and somewhat soiled little cook book and putting it in her Mother's lap, "I've made everything! I've gone 'all through' my book! I got dinner to-night!--that's your surprise."
"My own dear, lovely child!" said Mother. "You dear, precious baby-woman!" And taking Mary Frances in her lap, she hugged and kissed her again and again.
"I'm awfully sorry I couldn't exactly explain about you--you dear Kitchen People," whispered Mary Frances, going out to bid them good-night. "If it hadn't been for you, I never, never could have done it,--my dear, dear, friends."
"You'll not need us soon again," said Tea Kettle, sadly. "We're sorry--yet we're glad that your mother will take our place as teacher now."
"Will you help me when I do need you?" asked Mary Frances.
"When you do," they promised, and she threw them a kiss.
"Good-night, little Miss," they cried; and when she turned round again, they looked just like any or-din-ary kitchen utensils.
For a minute she felt very lonely; then, remembering, she said gladly, "But they promised!"
[Illustration: "Oh, Mother!" cried Mary Frances.]
Page vii, "Buscuits" changed to "Biscuits" (Baking Powder Biscuits)
The following corrections are all made to illustration captions. As this was only possible to make in the txt version, these corrections do not appear in the HTML version.
Page 58, illustration, "scacely" changed to "scarcely" (I can scarcely)
Page 67, illustration, "whisper" changed to "whispered" (Sauce Pan whispered)