"I was just thinking," said Bob, "that it might be fun to get Harry and Alice, and go out to Killkare park this evening. I don't believe you've been on a roller coaster this year."

"It would be fun to go," said Bettina, "although I haven't missed the roller coaster."

"Well, let's ask them to go. We can stay there awhile and then——"

"Then what?"

"Oh, nothing. Then go home."

"Bob, you meant—come here afterward and have a nice little lunch; didn't you?"

"I confess that I thought of that, and then I happened to remember that you were going out this afternoon and wouldn't want to bother with any preparations for a party."

"Going out this afternoon would not worry me at all—it is just that my funds are getting a little low, and I couldn't serve anything expensive. Let me think what I have on hand—yes, I believe I could do it by serving a salad and a dessert out of my own head."

"A Bettina salad? That's the very best kind. And what will the dessert be?"

"A Bettina dessert, too. I have some lovely apples, Bob, and I just can't afford anything very expensive. I know this will be good, too, but you mustn't complain if I have sponge cake to eat with it."

"I should say not, Bettina. Whatever you give us will tickle me, and Alice and Harry are in such a state of blindness that they won't know what they're eating."

That evening they had:

Put the cheese through the food chopper or grate it, add the olives chopped, the sweet pickles, peanuts, salt and paprika. Blend well, and form into balls, one inch in diameter. Arrange several on a lettuce leaf. Serve salad dressing with the salad.

Peel and core the apples. Drop into the sugar and water which has been boiled for ten minutes to form a syrup. Place a lid on the pan and cook the apples until tender. Remove from the syrup and roll in the cocoanut. Add the marshmallows to the syrup (which has been removed from the fire) and allow them to melt. Stir them in the syrup. When the marshmallows are dissolved, stir the mixture to mix the marshmallows with the syrup. Pour around the apple, and fill the hole in the center of the apple. Place a red cherry on the top of each.

Beat the yolks until thick and lemon colored, add the sugar gradually and beat for two minutes. Add the flour, sifted with the baking powder, and salt. Add the boiling water, lemon juice, and grated rind. Beat with a Dover egg-beater, two minutes. Fold in whites of the eggs. Bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven in an unbuttered pan. Do not cut sponge cake, except through the crust, then break apart.