"Oh!" The man's eyebrows raised themselves a little. "Then I
should say, Mrs. Dudley is an excellent Banbury pie-ist."

"I shall have to tell her that," laughed Polly. "It will please
her very much."

"Nothing delights a woman more than to have her cooking praised,"
laughed Mrs. Albright.

"I learned that years ago." Mr. Randolph smiled reminiscently.
"When I was first married, I think I must have been a rather
notional man to cook for. My wife seldom did much in the kitchen,
but one day she made a salad. As it did not exactly appeal to my
appetite, after one taste I remarked that I was not very hungry.
To my dismay she burst into tears. It was her favorite salad, and
she had made it with unusual care, never dreaming that I would not
like it as well as she did. Ever afterwards I ate the whole bill
of fare straight through."

"It sometimes takes courage to do that," smiled Mrs. Albright. "I
hope you had a good cook. How much people think of eating! I
don't blame 'em either. Nobody enjoys anything better than--for
instance, a lunch like this."

"Robert Louis Stevenson did," spoke up Mrs. Adlerfeld. "I read in
my day-to-day book this morning--I can't quite 'remember--yes, this
is it: 'After a good woman, and a good book, and tobacco, there is
nothing so agreeable on earth as a river.' I did not think then I
should be eating my dinner right on the bank of a little river!"