ght if you used a heavy spoon and plunged it in as if it
was a suet-pudding!"

"I won't forget," Norah promised her, resisting a wild desire to
laugh.

"That's a dear," said the cook-lady, disregarding the relations of
employer and employed, in the heat of professional enthusiasm. "And
you'll help it as quickly as possible, won't you? It will be put on
the table after all the other sweets. Every second will be of
importance!" She sighed. "A _souffle_ never gets a fair chance. It
ought, of course, to be put on a table beside the kitchen-range, and
cut within two seconds of leaving the oven. With a _hot_ spoon!" She
sighed tragically.

"We'll do our best for it," Norah promised her. "I'm sure it will be
lovely. Shall I come and tell you how it looked, afterwards?"

Miss de Lisle beamed.

"Now, that would be very kind of you," she said. "It's so seldom that
any one realizes what these things mean to the cook. A _souffle_ like
this is an inspiration--like a sonata to a musician. But no one ever
dreams of the cook; and the most you can expect from a butler is, 'Oh,
it cut very nice, ma'am, I'm sure. Very nice!'" She made a
despairing gesture. "But some people would call Chopin 'very nice'!"

"Miss de Lisle," said Norah earnestly, "some day when we haven't any
guests and Dad goes to London, we'll give every one else a holiday and
you and I will have lunch here together. And we'll have that
_souffle_, and eat it beside the range!"

For a moment Miss de Lisle had no words.

"Well!" she said at length explosively. "And I was so horrible to you
at first!" To Norah's amazement and dismay a large tear trickled down
one cheek, and her mouth quivered like a child's. "Dear me, how
foolish I am," said the poor cook-lady, rubbing her face with her
overall, and thereby streaking it most curiously with flour. "Thank
you very much, my dear. Even if we never manage it, I won't forget
that you said it!"

Norah found herself patting the stalwart shoulder.

"Indeed, we'll manage it," she said. "Now, don't you worry about
anything but that lovely _souffle_."

"Oh, the _souffle_ is assured now," said Miss de Lisle, beating her
mixture scientifically. "Now I shall have beautiful thoughts to put
into it! You have no idea what that means. Now, if I sat here
mixing, and thought of, say, Mrs. Atkins, it would probably be as
heavy as lead!" She sighed. "I believe, Miss Linton, I could teach
you something of t