by Oliver Optic
XI
THE COOKING CLASS
Nora's cooking party was not altogether a pleasure affair. It was theresult of her father's desire that she should have some knowledge ofdomestic matters before she left school. Dr. Gostar was a busy man,having little time to spend with his children. His practice was large,but as he gave his services as willingly to poor as to rich people, hehad not accumulated much money. Nora's home, however, was a verypleasant one. The numerous members of the family used all the rooms withthe greatest freedom. As the four other members of the household besidesDr. and Mrs. Gostar and Nora were boys, the furnishings of the house hada well-worn, comfortable look. No one was kept out of any particularroom. The boys had a large play and workroom in the attic, but when theywished to sit in the library (which other people might have called a"drawing-room") they were not forbidden.
Mrs. Gostar, though fond of society, was never too busy to hear what herchildren had to say, to read to them or hear them tell about theirschool, or to sympathize with them in any way. She had agreed with Dr.Gostar when he had expressed a wish to have Nora learn cooking.
"I am anxious," he had said, "that my little daughter shall know how tocook. I have been so often in houses where wives and mothers have beenquite helpless when a cook left, that I should be very sorry to haveNora grow up as ignorant as they. I know that a great deal of sicknesscomes from eating badly prepared food."
Nora herself had been rather pleased at the prospect of learning tocook. But Belle thought it very vulgar, and for a time was not surewhether or not she would join the cooking-class.
During the first winter the girls had had lessons once a week. Butthrough this season of Julia's arrival in Boston, they had met topractice cooking only once a month. The lessons always were given atNora's house, because, as Edith said, her cook wasn't too fashionable tolet them fuss around in the kitchen.
The first winter they had had a teacher, but this year they weresupposed to know enough to concoct certain dishes themselves. Thecooking party took place on the third Friday of the month, and from sixto eight the girls were busy cooking. At eight o'clock any guests whomthey had invited arrived, and at nine o'clock they had a little supper.They were not permitted to have too elaborate a bill of fare. Even as itwas, Belle's grandmother protested against what she called anindigestible supper served at this hour. As a matter of fact it was notapt to be indigestible. Dr. Gostar himself usually made out the list ofeatables. Light salads, simple cakes, bouillon, ices, blanc-manges,jellies, oysters or eggs cooked in various styles, and chocolateprepared with whipped cream, were conspicuous on the list from which hemade his selection. But the girls on any given evening were restrictedto one sweet, one solid and two kinds of cake. With the assistance of amaid each girl in turn set the table, and sometimes, besides their youngfriends, their parents were present to see what their skill and tastehad accomplished.
"There, there, Edith, I'm sure your cake is burning," cried Nora on theFriday evening after their talk with Philip.
"Oh, dear, I can't do anything about it now; I've cut my fingers," andEdith held up her hands rather plaintively.
"Here, take my handkerchief," said Brenda; and before Edith could stopher she was binding up the wound with a delicate lace-trimmedhandkerchief. It was Agnes's birthday present to her, sent from Paris,and intended only for full dress occasion.
"Why, Brenda, that lovely handkerchief!" exclaimed Belle, who waslooking on.
"Oh, it won't hurt it. How does your finger feel, Edith?"
"It feels all right, for it wasn't a deep cut, but with my right handtied up I don't believe I can lift that cake out of the oven," and Edithlooked about helplessly, for she was not used to battling withdifficulties.
Over her dress each girl wore a long-sleeved blue-checked apron--each ofthem at least except Julia. This was her first appearance at thecooking-club, and as Brenda had forgotten to tell her about the aprons,she was unprepared. She had on a small white apron, borrowed from Nora,and when Edith spoke about the cake, she seized a holder, and openingthe oven door, lifted the pan out. As Edith feared, the cake was burned,though not the whole top, but black spots here and there gave it a veryunsightly appearance, and Edith felt very much disturbed as she lookedat it.
"How provoking! That was the only cake we were to have to-night, andthere isn't time to make another."
"Oh, we can do something," cried Julia. "Let me help you."
"I don't see what we can do," half moaned Edith.
"I'll show you," cried Julia hopefully. "You have plenty of sugar andeggs--and----"
"But really there isn't time to make anything not to speak of baking it,and, oh, dear, I am so unlucky!" sighed poor Edith.
"Nonsense," said Julia. "You haven't any idea what I can do. I shalljust have to show you," and she began to break the eggs into a bowl,beating them and stirring into them a liberal amount of sugar. "Run,Brenda," she cried, "and bring me a sheet of that brown wrapping paper."
Brenda obeyed, and after buttering the paper, Julia dropped her mixtureof sugar and eggs, a spoonful at a time, here and there, on the paper.
"Oh, I know," cried Brenda. "Kisses, but I never would have thought ofit myself."
"Well," responded Julia, "there is nothing you can bake so quickly, andalmost every one likes them. There, this first batch must be ready now,"and she opened the oven door to remove the pan with its sheet of kisses,delicately browned and of the size and shape that a confectioner couldnot surpass. Two or three other lots were baked before there wereenough. By the time they were finished Edith's finger had ceased to painher, and she was helping place the other eatables on the dumb-waiter.
From the floor above there came the sound of laughter, and the voices ofthe boys could be heard mingled with those of the girls as they calledto the three kitchen maidens.
At last, with the help of Hannah, the maid, who had come down from thefloor above, all the kitchen work was declared at an end.
"That's all," shouted Brenda, as Belle and Philip gave a final pull onthe cords of the dumb-waiter.
A moment later Edith and Julia and Brenda entered the dining-room, withfaces perhaps a little flushed, but otherwise looking very unlike thethree cooks they had been a few minutes before.
Under Nora's direction the dining-table had been exquisitely arranged.There was a great glass bowl of pink roses in the centre, and the platesand cups were of china with a wild rose border. The candles in thesilver candelabra at each end of the table had pink shades.
"There, you go, Philip, and tell the others that supper is ready," saidNora, glancing at the table and giving a final touch to one or twodishes.
With Philip leading, the guests trooped into the dining-room. "Trooped"is perhaps too boisterous a word to apply to the procession of youngpeople who came into the room two at a time with a fair amount ofdignity. To Julia, in fact, they appeared to a certain extent to beimitating the demeanor of their elders. She could not help thinking thatthe manner with which Belle let herself be led to a chair was entirelytoo coquettish, and only Nora seemed to be her real self in the presenceof the guests.
But Julia was not a harsh critic, and before very long she forgot thatshe had not always known these merry young people. She laughed at thejokes made by the boys, although she did not always see the point ofthem. Most of these jokes turned on something connected with college.For every one of them was in Harvard, although some were only Freshmen.The stories that they thought the funniest dealt with the queer thingsthat some of their friends had had to do when undergoing initiation intoone of the College Societies, and many of their doings seemed reallyinane.
Before they had been long in the dining-room Mrs. Gostar joined them,and later Dr. Gostar himself appeared. The presence of these elderpeople lessened the laughter only a very little, for all the youngpeople knew that Dr. Gostar enjoyed fun as well as they.
"What was the catastrophe to-night?" he asked Nora, for it was afavorite joke of his that at each meeting of the cooking-class some
dishsuffered. When he had heard about the disaster to Edith's cake hepraised Julia so heartily for having come to the rescue that she blusheddeeply. Even without this success in cooking, Julia would have beenvoted a great addition to the cooking-class. There was something verypleasing in her gentle manners, and Belle, to her surprise, foundherself growing a little jealous of Brenda's cousin. Before this she hadnot thought her sufficiently important to arouse jealousy.