dainty slices of bacon and presided over the frying-pan, and
Aldred laid the table and made the toast. They all agreed that their
first meal was delicious, although Mabel had forgotten to warm the
plates for the bacon, and the coffee was just a trifle muddy.

"It oughtn't to be," said poor Dora anxiously. "I'm sure I made it
exactly the same way as Miss Reade showed us. I must manage better if we
intend to serve any after dinner to Miss Drummond and Mademoiselle."

"And I must remember hot plates!" said Mabel. "I should be ashamed to
face Miss Drummond if we left out such an important item as that. By the
by, Aldred, did you fill the kettle again, so that we can have plenty of
hot water for washing up? It takes a long time to heat the boiler."

Aldred jumped up rather guiltily. As a matter of fact, she had drained
the kettle, and thoughtlessly placed it empty upon the stove. By good
luck it had not been there long enough to crack, but the vision of what
might have happened made her pensive.

"There seem so many little things to think about!" she declared. "While
you're doing one, you just forget another. I can quite believe the story
of King Alfred burning the cakes, though Miss Bardsley always says it's
'not based on sound historical evidence'."

"It's most natural, and has the ring of truth," agreed Mabel,
"especially the woman saying he would be ready enough to eat them
afterwards. I should have told him so myself, I'm sure."

"What are we going to give Miss Drummond for dinner?" enquired Dora.
"Let us arrange that before we begin to clear away. The kettle can't
boil for quite five minutes, so we may as well hold our council of war
now."

After considerable discussion they decided to cut the loin of mutton
into chops, and stew it with carrots and turnips; to have kidney beans
for the second vegetable, and a plum tart and a corn-flour blancmange
for the pudding.

"Couldn't we have some soup?" suggested Aldred.

"There's nothing to make it with. We've no stock or bones."

"You don't need any. It can be _bouillon maigre_, instead of _bouillon
gras_--just water and vegetables, without any meat. A lady who lives in
France was staying with us this summer, and she said they always have it
like that on Fridays. They put all kinds of things from the garden into
it--things we never think of using. It will be a compliment to
Mademoiselle to give her a French dish."

"Hadn't we better stick to what Miss Reade has ta