“Now, Ma,” said Bella, reappearing in the kitchen with some remains of a blush, “you and Lavvy think magnificent me fit for nothing, but I intend to prove the contrary. I mean to be Cook today.”

“Hold!” rejoined her majestic mother. “I cannot permit it. Cook, in that dress!”

“As for my dress, Ma,” returned Bella, merrily searching in a dresser-drawer, “I mean to apron it and towel it all over the front; and as to permission, I mean to do without.”

“ You cook?” said Mrs. Wilfer. “ You , who never cooked when you were at home?”

“Yes, Ma,” returned Bella; “that is precisely the state of the case.”