appetizing omelet.

Mrs. Forbes filled the child's glass with water, and the maid set down
the omelet and departed.

Jewel's heart sank while Mrs. Forbes presented the souffle.

"I'm sorry," she began hesitatingly, "I never--I can't"--then she
swallowed hard in her desperate plight. "Isn't it pretty?" she said
rather breathlessly.

"It's very good," returned the housekeeper briefly, misconstruing the
child's hesitation. "Shall I help you?"

"I--could I have a drink of milk? I don't--I don't eat eggs."

"Don't eat eggs?" repeated the housekeeper severely. "I'm sorry you
have been allowed to be notional. Children should eat what is set before
them. Taste of it."

"I--I couldn't, please." Jewel's face was averted.

Mrs. Forbes touched an electric bell. The maid reappeared. "Remove the
omelet, Sarah, and bring Miss Julia a glass of milk."

That was the order, but oh, the tone of it! Jewel's heart beat a little
faster as she took some bread and butter and drank the milk, Mrs. Forbes
standing by, a portentous, solemn, black-robed figure, awful in its
silence.