paraffin
flared up, and the strong down-draught from the stove pipe sent the
flame suddenly straight out through the bars of the grate into her face.
With a shriek she drew swiftly back; for the moment she thought she was
blinded. Mabel came running in much consternation from the sitting-room,
to see what had happened, and found Dora crouching on the floor with her
hands over her eyes, and Aldred standing by, as white as a ghost.

"What's the matter? Are you hurt?" cried Mabel.

"Oh, I can see, after all!" shuddered Dora, cautiously peeping through
her hands. "I never expected the stove to play me such a horrid trick!
Is my face burnt?"

"No; but oh dear, your eyebrows and eyelashes are singed! They look so
queer!"

Dora got up, and ran to view herself in the small mirror that hung over
the dresser.

"I've certainly spoilt my beauty--what there was of it! And I've had a
most dreadful fright, too!" she remarked.

"It was my fault!" quavered Aldred, who was horror-stricken at the
accident. "I'd no idea the flame would rush out in front. You might have
lost your sight!"

"Well, it can't be helped now," said Dora, with good-tempered
philosophy. "We'd better keep this little episode as quiet as we can. I
only hope Miss Drummond won't notice my eyebrows, and ask what I've been
doing to them. We'll never try such a silly thing again, though it was
very efficacious--the fire's blazing away hard. What about the jam? Can
you look after it, Aldred? You said you knew how. Mabel and I will make
some potato cakes, and some scones."

After the failure of the soup and the bread sauce, Aldred's supreme
confidence in her powers was rather shaken; but she would not confess as
much to her companions, and readily undertook to superintend the
preserving. The blackberries were waiting in the basket, and the pounds
of sugar had been smuggled in that morning by the cook, and were
concealed under towels in a drawer.

Aldred wished now that she had not refused Miss Reade's recipe. There
was no printed cookery book at the cottage, as the girls were not
supposed to try experiments, but to carry out what they had learned in
class, the instructions being written down in their notebooks.

"Still, jam really isn't difficult," she reflected. "There are no horrid
seasonings and flavourings, only the fruit and the sugar. I don't see
how I can go wrong over this; I've seen Aunt Bertha make it dozens of
times!"

She set to work very provident