"Who's that?" asked Aunty Rolling Pin. "A new kind of cooking pan?"
"No, no, Aunty Rolling Pin," laughed Mary Frances; "she's an old lady who is sick. Aunt Maria told me about her at lunch. She's such a funny old lady."
"It isn't funny to be ill," said Aunty Rolling Pin.
"No," answered Mary Frances, seriously, "but I meant she does such funny things: Last summer, she told Elvin Phelps if he didn't keep his bees from stealing honey out of her flowers, she'd shoot them--she (oh, dear!)--wanted--him--to tie each one--by his hind leg--to keep--them--home--oh, dear," laughed Mary Frances.
"What did he do?" asked Aunty Rolling Pin, anxiously.
"He told her (excuse my laughing--but it's so funny!) he would rather--put a 'No Trespassing' sign up in her garden for them to read! Ho-ho! Tee-hee." Mary Frances shook with laughter.
Silence in the kitchen until Mary Frances felt a tug at her tug at her dress.
[Illustration: "A sign for them to read"]
"Thank you,--I don't like to suggest, but a Dropped Egg on Toast would----"
"Be grand!" finished Mary Frances. "I'm sure I saw that recipe; yes, this is it!"
1. Put a pint (2 cups) boiling water into a shallow pan. Add ½ teaspoon salt.
3. Whirl the water 'round and 'round with a spoon, and draw pan back on stove where it will simmer, but not boil hard.
5. Cook until the white is coated over the top.
NOTE.--It is best to cook only one egg at a time.
"Ready!" exclaimed Sauce Pan, and Mary Frances poured the hot water.
"Ready!" cried Toaster Man, and Mary Frances made the toast.
"Oh!" cried the little girl suddenly, her fingers crushing through the eggshell, "what a shame!"
"A sharp rap with a knife and a quick pull with the thumbs," somebody said.
"Thank you," smiled Mary Frances, too busy to discover who was her helper.
Very soon she had lifted the poached egg with Per-for-at-ed Skimmer on the piece of toast.
When she had arranged the tray, she brought it out for the Kitchen People to see.
She had used her mother's daintiest china plates, and had scattered violets here and there over the cloth.
"Beau-ti-ful!" they exclaimed in one voice, as though that was all that could be said; but this is what Mary Frances heard as she closed the door:
"I know Jube'll want some of that," he added after a moment. "That cat can eat any time of day! I envy her appetite."