"You did?" said Bob, feigning astonishment. "You rolled them out with a rolling pin, I suppose, and——"

"Oh, no, Uncle Bob! You ought never to use a rolling pin, Aunt Bettina says!" said Mildred in a horrified tone, as if she had been cooking for the First Families for a score of years. "Good cooks always pat down the dough—they never roll it out."

"Well, what do you do first? Stir up the dough with a spoon?"

"No, indeed; you use a knife. Then you pat the dough down, and cut out the dear little biscuits with a biscuit cutter."

"And put them side by side in a nicely buttered pan? I know how!"

"But you don't butter the pan," said Mildred triumphantly. "Or flour it, either. Aunt Bettina says that lots of people think the pan has to be buttered or floured, but they're wrong. It's lots better to put the biscuits into a nice clean pan."

"But don't they stick to it, and burn?"

"No, indeed! They don't burn a bit! Look at these!" said Mildred, delighted to find the opportunity to impart some of her newly acquired knowledge.

"Well, what else did you help Aunt Bettina to make?"

"These nice stuffed onions. It was fun to make them, even though I don't like onions. I ground up the dry bread that Aunt Bettina keeps in the jar by the stove."

"Well, you can tell Mother Polly that Aunt Bettina will make a good cook of you yet!"

For dinner that night they had:

Wash and peel the onions. Cook for ten minutes in boiling water. Rinse with cold water to make them firm. Push out the centers. Place the onions in a well-buttered baking pan and fill each onion with filling. Place in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

Mix the crumbs, tomato pulp, butter, parsley, pimento, salt, egg yolks and celery. Cook for one minute. Fill each onion case carefully with the mixture. Then pour the following sauce about the onions before placing them in the oven:

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix well, add the milk, and cook for one minute.

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the fat with a knife. Add the soda to the milk, and when the effervescing ceases, add slowly to the dry ingredients. (All the milk may not be needed.) When a soft dough is formed, toss onto a floured board. Pat into shape, cut with a biscuit cutter, and place side by side on a tin pan or baking sheet. Bake fifteen minutes in a moderately hot oven.