display of rags and brushes,
paused to take breath and look at her admiringly.

"Are yer goin' to make yer pies 'n things, Miss Dolly?" she asked.
"Which, if ye are, yer apern 's in the left 'and dror."

"So it is," said Dolly. "Thank you. Now where is the cookery book?"

"Left 'and dror agin," announced Belinda, with a faint grin. "I allus
puts it there."

Whereupon Dolly, making industrious search for it, found it, and applied
herself to a deep study of it, resting her white elbows on the dresser,
and looking as if she had been suddenly called upon to master its
contents or be led to the stake. She could not help being intense and in
earnest even over this every-day problem of pies and puddings.

"Fricassee?" she murmured. "Fricassee was a failure, so was mock-turtle
soup; it looked discouraging, and the fat _would_ swim about in a way
that attracted attention. Croquettes were not so bad, though they were
a little stringy; but beef _a la mode_ was positively unpleasant. Jugged
hare did very well, but oyster _pates_ were dubious. Veal pie Griffith
liked."

"There's somebody a-ringin' at the door-bell," said Belinda, breaking
in upon her. "He's rung twict, which I can go, mum, if I ain't got no
smuts."

Dolly looked up from her book.

"Some one is going now, I think," she said. "I hope it is n't a
visitor," listening attentively.

But it was a visitor, unfortunately. In a few minutes Mollie came in,
studiously perusing a card she held in her hand.

"Ralph," she proclaimed, coming forward slowly. "Ralph Gowan. It's Lady
Augusta's gentleman, Dolly, and he wants to see you."

Dolly took the card and looked at it, giving her shoulders a tiny shrug
of surprise.

"He has not waited long," she said; "and it is rather inconvenient, but
it can't be helped. I suppose I shall have to run up-stairs and present
him to Phil."

She untied her apron, drew down her sleeves, settled the bit of ribbon
at her throat, and in three minutes opened the parlor door and greeted
her visitor, looking quite as much in the right place as she had done
the night before in the white merino.

"I am very glad to see you," she said, shaking hands with him, "and I am
sure Phil will be, too. He is always glad to see people, and just now
you will be doubly welcome, because he has a new picture to talk about.
Will you come into the studio, or shall I bring him here? I think it had
better be the studio at once, because you will be sure to dr