"And what's more, I've gained in spirits! Say, there's nothing like living in a real home! Why, people, just think of having Charlotte say to me as she did yesterday, 'Frank, Bob and Bettina are coming to dinner to-morrow, and I want you to plan the menu!' And here it is! Excuse me for seeming too proud of my own good judgment and my wife's skill in cookery, but——"

"Hush, Frank! Maybe Bob and Bettina won't like your choice of dishes or your wife's cooking!"

"What!" said Bob. "I have yet to meet the person who doesn't like fried chicken! And roasting ears and new potatoes! Sa-ay!"

"It's a man-size dinner all right, isn't it?" said Mr. Dixon. "You know ever since I was a boy my idea of Sunday dinner (at least in the summer) has been fried chicken with gravy, new potatoes, boiled corn on the cob, and ice cream with sliced peaches! Because ice cream is coming, isn't it, Charlotte? At least I ordered it, and this appears to be my lucky day!"

"Indeed, it is coming," said Mrs. Dixon. "You see, Bettina, ever since I came to keep house (thanks to you) I've longed for the time to come when I could let Frank plan a company meal that I could carry out to the last detail. I have tried all these things before, although not all at the same time. I have always suspected that he would order fried chicken and its accessories (a 'little boy dinner' I called this), so when I told him that he might plan the meal, I knew that I could cook it. You see, I have wanted to invite you and Bob—oh, I've been thinking of it for a long time, but you can cook so well that I thought perhaps you'd rather eat at home!"

"Charlotte, this is a perfect dinner—far better than I could get, I know."

"This salad is an acquired taste with me," put in Mr. Dixon. "In my boyhood, my ideal dinner did not include salad, but Charlotte said there must be one, so this was my choice. I mixed the oil-dressing myself," he added with pride.

"It was a simple dinner to get," said Mrs. Dixon. "But now, Frank, we mustn't boast any more about our own dinner, must we? Bob and Bettina will laugh at us. You see, we're regular children since we took the house, but we do have lots of fun. I wouldn't go back to hotel living for anything in the world!"

"And neither would I," said Frank, "if for no other reason than the joy of entertaining our friends at dinner this way!"

Their Sunday dinner consisted of:

Cut the peeled tomatoes and cucumber in one-third inch cubes, mix with the onion chopped fine. Add the dressing, which has been well mixed, and allow to stand ten minutes in a cold place. Serve on head lettuce.

Add the sugar to the peaches and allow to stand in the ice box for ten minutes. Place peaches around the ice cream.

Cream the butter, add the sugar, and continue creaming for two minutes. Alternately add all the dry ingredients and the milk. Beat well. Cut and fold in the egg-whites. Add the flavoring. Bake in two buttered layer-cake pans, twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Cover with "C" sugar icing.

Cook the sugar and water together without stirring until the icing "clicks" in cold water. Remove from the fire and pour very slowly over the stiffly beaten egg-whites. Beat vigorously and continuously until the icing gets thick and creamy. Add the vanilla. Spread on the cake.

Mix cream, sugar, vanilla and salt. Place in a scalded and chilled freezer. Turn until the mixture stiffens. Pack for two hours to ripen.