"Oh, does it?" Mary Lee emptied out some of the contents of her over-full cup before she stirred the flour into the mixture.
"Now beat like mad," said Nan, "and here, let me put in some of the beaten whites of the eggs before you add more flour."
"Oh, I do hope it will be good," said Mary Lee watching her sister slide off some of the frothy heap into the cake bowl. "Did you tell Li Hung this was to be a birthday dinner?"
"No, but I will tell him." When she carried the cake out to put it in the oven she gave the information to the Chinaman, who looked pleased; he liked opportunities to try his powers.
"You likee I make plitty salad?" he asked. "Plitty flowel, plitty namee? You lite namee evlybody on paper, I makee him on salad."
"Oh, he's going to do something lovely," Nan told her sister when she returned to her. "He says he will watch the cake and take it out when it is done, but I think I shall have an eye to it, too. I have promised to write the names of all of us, but I think it will be better to print them. What would you say, Señorita de Garcia, or Señorita Dolores?"
"I suppose Señorita de Garcia would be more correct for a dinner," said Mary Lee after weighing the question.
Nan at once set to work to print out the names and was so interested in watching the baking of the cake and in the process of preparing the salad that she did not appear till dinner was about ready.
In the meantime Mary Lee had sought out the twins and had arrayed them and herself in festal garments. She had rummaged through her own belongings and had appealed to her mother and aunt so that each one had some gift to lay by Miss de Garcia's plate. The twins produced two souvenirs which they had bought in San Diego: a little box of orangewood and a paper cutter, Mrs. Corner contributed a small Indian basket, Miss Helen a pretty fan, and Nan, in desperation at being out of it all by remaining so long in the kitchen, dragged from her trunk a photograph of the old San Diego mission and tied it up hastily. Mary Lee sacrificed her beloved Venetian beads which she admired almost more than any of her possessions, yet nothing was too good for the señorita and she would have the pleasure of seeing her wear them.
Therefore, when the guest of honor was ushered to the table she was overpowered by the array before her. Tears came to her eyes and for a moment she could not speak, then when she did the Spanish words slipped between the English ones when she tried to express her thanks. "Amigas mias," she began—"my friends, you have made me glad, ashamed, muy felices—so happy. I cannot say my thanks. Mil gracias señoras, señoritas. Beso a sus manos de ustedes; I kiss your hands; I thank God for my good friends."