At the bottom of the ribbon stack, her eye caught
the gleam of color for which she was searching, and she deftly slipped
out a narrow scarf of Roman stripes with a deep black fringe at the
end. Sitting down, she fitted the hat over her knee, picked up the
dressing-table scissors, and ripped off the band. In its place she
fitted the ribbon, pinning it securely and knotting the ends so that the
fringe reached her shoulder. Then she tried the hat again. The result
was blissfully satisfactory. The flash of orange, the blaze of red, the
gleam of green, were what she needed.

"Thank you very much, sister mine," she said, "I know you I would be
perfectly delighted to loan me this."

CHAPTER IX. One Hundred Per Cent Plus

Then she went downstairs and walked into the kitchen, prepared for what
she would see, by what she heard as she approached.

With Katy's apron tied around his waist, Donald Whiting was occupied in
squeezing orange, lemon, and pineapple juice over a cake of ice in a big
bowl, preparatory to the compounding of Katy's most delicious brand of
fruit punch. Without a word, Linda stepped to the bread board and
began slicing the bread and building sandwiches, while Katy hurried her
preparations for filling the lunch box. A few minutes later Katy packed
them in the car, kissed Linda good-bye, and repeatedly cautioned Donald
to make her be careful.

As the car rolled down the driveway and into the street, Donald looked
appraisingly at the girl beside him.

"Is it the prevailing custom in Lilac Valley for young ladies to kiss
the cook?" inquired Donald laughingly.

"Now, you just hush," said Linda. "Katy is NOT the cook, alone. Katy's
my father, and my mother, and my family, and my best friend--"

"Stop right there," interposed Donald. "That is quite enough for any
human to be. Katy's a multitude. She came out to the car with the
canteen, and when I offered to help her, without any 'polly foxin',' she
just said: 'Sure. Come in and make yourself useful.' So I went, and I am
expecting amazing results from the job she gave me."

"Come to think of it," said Linda, "I have small experience with
anybody's cooking except Katy's and my own, but so far as I know, she
can't very well be beaten."

Carefully she headed the car into the garage adjoining the salesrooms.
There she had an ovation. The manager and several of the men remembered
her. The whole force clustered around the Bear Cat and began to examine
it, an