"Do you like muffins and stewed oysters?" asked Bel Bree, drawing upon her best experience.
"Very much," Mrs. Scherman answered.
And Kate, looking sharply on, delighted herself with the guarded astonishment that widened the lady's beautiful eyes.
"Only we have neither muffins nor oysters in the house; and the grocery and the fish-market are down round the corner, in Selchar Street."
"I could go for them right off. What time do you have tea?"
Really, Asenath Scherman had never acted in a charade where her cues were so unexpected.
"I wonder if I'm getting mixed up again," she thought. "Which is the cook?"
Of course a cook never would have offered to go out and order muffins and oysters. Mrs. Scherman could not have asked it of the parlor-maid.
Kate Sencerbox relieved her.
"I'll go, Bel," she interposed. "I guess it's my place. That is, if you like, Mrs. Scherman."