"Oh, Mother, I've learned so much!" cried Mildred with enthusiasm. "And when I'm married, I'm going to have a dear little kitchen just like Aunt Betty's! Aunt Betty does know the very best way to do everything! Why, Mother, I think she's a better cook even than Selma, and not half so cross when I bother!"

"Bother!" said Bettina. "Why, Mildred, you've been a real help to me!"

"I hope so," laughed Polly, "but I'm not so sure. Children never worry me—it's fortunate, isn't it?—but I don't see how on earth anyone can cook with a child in the kitchen! I wanted Selma to teach Mildred, but I hadn't the heart to insist when she objected to the plan."

"H—m, Selma!" said Mildred with scorn. "Why, Mother, Selma doesn't even know enough to line her cake pans with waxed paper! She butters 'em! And I don't believe we have a spatula in the whole house!"

"A—what?" said Polly in a puzzled tone. "I don't believe I——"

"Don't you know what a spatula is, Mother?" asked Mildred didactically. "Why, it's one of those flattened out spoon-things to use in the kitchen. We ought to have one. And—Mother, you ought to see how much mayonnaise Aunt Bettina makes at a time! It'll keep, you know."

"Goodness!" said Polly tragically. "What a dreadful thing it will be to live with a child who knows more than I do!"

For dinner that night they had:

Wash and peel the onions. Cook in one quart of water. Allow to boil five minutes. Change the water and continue boiling ten minutes. Change the water again, and when thoroughly cooked (about fifteen minutes more), remove from the fire and drain.

Melt the butter, add the flour and salt and mix thoroughly. Add the milk and cook one minute. Add the onions, and pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish. Place the buttered crumbs on the top of the onions and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.

Cream the butter, add the sugar and cream the mixture, add the egg-yolks, mix well and add the coffee, vanilla, flour and baking powder. Beat two minutes. Add the stiffly beaten egg-whites. Pour the mixture into two layer-cake pans prepared with waxed paper. Bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. When cool, spread with the mocha icing.

Mix the vanilla with the coffee. Add the powdered sugar slowly until the proper consistency to spread. Spread over one layer and place the upper layer on the lower. Place the icing on the top layer and on the sides. More sugar may be needed.