As she talked, she wielded the sharp knife with surprisingly good
results in tracing the ragged outlines of the map in the soft icing, and
even critical Allee was charmed when the paper was lifted, disclosing
the knife marks. "You have to put all those blue lines in, too, don't
you?" she asked. "How can you do that?"

Peace pondered. "Those are rivers and these brown smudges are mountains.
I asked Hope once. They all ought to go in, but I'm afraid I can't draw
straight enough. Oh, I know what I'll do. Mrs. Strong uses pin-pricked
patterns for stamping Glen's dresses. I'll try that." Carefully,
laboriously, she pricked in the rivers, mountains and state boundaries,
mistaking the latter for railroads; and then drew back to survey her
work.

"The pin marks don't show much, do they?" ventured Allee.

"No, but I shan't leave them there anyway--not alone. We'll cover the
railroads with these colored candies, and the rivers we'll make of
green sugar. They are blue on the map, but green and blue ain't much
different, anyway. We'll jam down the ocean and cover that with green,
too. These curly choc'late candies will make good mountains, and by
heaping up the frosting we dug out of the ocean we'll have islands and
lighthouses. Now, ain't that elegant?"

"Oh, my precious State Fair cake!" cried a dismayed voice behind them,
and before either guilty decorator could face the angry sister, they
were seized firmly by the shoulders, jerked through the doorway,
vigorously shaken, each dealt a smart blow across their ears, and left
dazed and tearful in the middle of the kitchen, while the avenger rushed
sobbing upstairs.

Neither culprit had recovered her breath when Gail was upon them, not
the gentle sister they were accustomed to seeing, but a stern,
indignant, justice-dealing judge.

"Peace Greenfield," she said severely, "what have you done? Ruined the
cake Faith has taken such pains with for the Fair!"

"I--I thought it was Minnie's birthday cake. I--I just dec'rated it."

"Just decorated it! What for? What business had you to touch it? That
was pure mischief and nothing else. She intended making a spray of roses
and green leaves on that cake and now you've spoiled it. Go sit down in
your little chairs and stay there until noon. For fear you will forget
about staying there, I shall tie you in."

"Oh, Gail, as if we were little kids!"

"That is what you are when you meddle with things that don't belong to
you. I have talk