ht to
know. You can't be thinking about whether you're going to get a
spot on your frock or whether the last hook is caught or left open.
And if you're too warm, as you will be in a velvet dress in that hot
kitchen and you all excited anyway, or if your feet hurt you, you're
not going to be able to give your attention to what you are cooking.
And I may not know much about teachers, but I imagine they're like
anybody else--when they're hungry, a brown velvet dress won't make
up to them for soggy potatoes and underdone meat. Miss Parsons is
banking on you--likely as not she's told the teachers you're the
best cook in the class, and if you serve up a poor dinner, do you
suppose looking at your velvet dress is going to make her glad she
trusted you? Of course you can suit yourself, and I'm not trying to
influence you, because you're old enough to--"

Rosemary rushed at her and hugged her warmly.

"You're a dear, darling Winnie!" she cried affectionately. "I'll
stop thinking about what I'm going to wear this minute, and go to
work on what I'm going to cook. Miss Parsons hates fussy clothes,
anyway, and I'll wear my white linen under my apron and be
comfortable. Hugh thinks I'm silly to wear the velvet, I know he
does."

"The velvet will keep," said Winnie tersely, "and I'll do up your
white linen for you so that it will look like new."

But, left alone, Rosemary could not resist trying on the brown
frock. She pinned her hair high, pushing it into a tower-effect with
the aid of combs, and added a long string of red beads that almost
touched the floor.

"I look so nice this way," she told the reflection in the glass,
naively. "Why isn't it ever sensible to wear your best clothes when
you expect to be busy?"

And that is a question older folk than Rosemary have asked, but,
unlike her, they have learned the answer.

CHAPTER XVII

THE INSTITUTE DINNER

Rosemary early encountered the usual difficulties that beset the
leader of any enterprise. The girls she selected to act as cooks
wept because they were not appointed waitresses and those tolled off
to serve at the tables were affronted because they had not been
elected to cook.

"You're the general, Rosemary," said Miss Parsons, when rumors of
dissatisfaction reached her. "Give your orders and see that they are
obeyed. You are in absolute charge of this dinner and no one is to
be allowed to dictate to you."

The Willis will and the Willis chin were good po