Very well, she would show them. Was not
Bertram bringing this man home because he was
proud of her? Mighty proud he would be if she
had to call in half of Boston to get his dinner for
him! Nonsense! She would get it herself. Was
not this the time, if ever, to be an oak? A vine,
doubtless, would lean and cling and telephone,
and whine ``I can't!'' But not an oak. An oak
would hold up its head and say ``I can!'' An
oak would go ahead and get that dinner. She
would be an oak. She would get that dinner.

What if she didn't know how to cook bread and
cake and pies and things? One did not have to
cook bread and cake and pies just to get a dinner
--meat and potatoes and vegetables! Besides,
she _could_ make peach fritters. She knew she
could. She would show them!

And with actually a bit of song on her lips, Billy
skipped up-stairs for her ruffled apron and dust-
cap--two necessary accompaniments to this
dinner-getting, in her opinion.

Billy found the apron and dust-cap with no
difficulty; but it took fully ten of her precious
minutes to unearth from its obscure hiding-place
the blue-and-gold ``Bride's Helper'' cookbook,
one of Aunt Hannah's wedding gifts.