“I think I could make it,” said Dora.
Lucy was surprised, for Dora didn’t often say things like that. “Mother, could she?” she asked Mrs. Merrill.
“Anybody who can read can use a cook-book, and anybody with common sense can cook,” said Mother.
Lucy was quite annoyed. Neither Dora nor Mother understood how choice that gingerbread was going to be. She at once told Dora that she was paring the apples too deep.
“It isn’t good next to the skin,” said Dora, and she went on paring the apples in just the same way.
“Don’t be cross, children,” said Mrs. Merrill. “You might help Dora with the apples, Lucy, if you think you can do them better. I want to get everything possible done before dinner because this afternoon I mean to take you over to the city to see about your winter coats.”
“Both of us?” asked the children.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Saturday afternoon isn’t a good time to go shopping, but now you are having music lessons in the morning, I can’t manage it then. And I don’t like to take you out of school to go.”
“Are we both to have new coats?” asked Dora. She knew that Lucy was to have one, because she had outgrown her old one. It could not be buttoned without squeezing hard. Dora had expected to wear that coat herself, and she did not like its color. The color was brown.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Lucy’s old coat will do for you to wear on stormy days, but it does not look very well. She has worn it three winters. We have decided to buy you a new one.”