Mrs. Bishop almost screamed when she heard it, and then Molly found the right conversational key was struck, for her mother-in-law had a great deal to say about her own troubles with servants, and the troubles of her friends; and when the “hour of digestion” had passed, she asked if they would like to go out and see some of the beauties of Greenfield.
“Well, that depends on what train we take.”
“I hoped you would stay and see Harry.”
Mrs. Bishop looked inquiringly at her husband, who said:
“Oh, we must stay and see Harry, I suppose.”
Molly smiled inwardly, as she thought that his luncheon had reassured him as to his dinner. They all went out for an hour; there was not much to see but some pretty, well-kept Queen Anne houses, and Mrs. Bishop let drop the remark that she had little expected ever to see a son of hers living in the second-rate neighborhood of a country town, which remark Molly prudently ignored.
When they returned to the house, Mrs. Bishop, at Molly’s suggestion, went to lie down, and her husband stretched himself on the sofa, and Molly slipped from the room, for she could see he too was drowsy. She went to the kitchen, told Marta how well she thought she had managed the lunch, and then gave directions for the dinner in writing, for she wanted to attend to her guests as much as possible. What she wrote was as follows:
“At five o’clock, put the mutton in the oven as usual, and the fish into salt and water. At a quarter past, put white onions on to boil in boiling water; and potatoes. When the potatoes are just done, cut them in slices thick as a dollar. Have ready a pint of white sauce, remembering to use two table-spoonfuls of flour and two of butter to the pint of milk. Chop a dessert-spoonful of parsley very fine, lay the potatoes in a dish, sprinkle a little parsley, pepper and salt among them, pour white sauce over them enough to moisten without making them sloppy, and strew grated bread crumbs over all; put them in the oven to brown. Keep the rest of the white sauce for the onions, which must be boiled very tender, poured dry immediately after they are done, and then put into the white sauce, and allowed to stew a few minutes.
“As soon as you have the potatoes ready for the oven, put the fish, which you have nicely wiped, on a plate, lay that on a napkin and set both in a saucepan of boiling water, with two tea-spoonfuls of salt and two of vinegar. It will take twenty minutes to boil.”
Molly had told Marta to take the peg out of the freezer and let off the water, at luncheon. She now went to see if the frozen banana custard was in good condition, and found it all right; then she took out the paddle, worked the custard down from the sides, and covered it, packing in more salt and ice.