“Jelly all gone,” said Bell; “where, I can't think, for there were seventeen tumblers.”
“The boys are awfully fond of it with bread,” said Alice, reminiscently. “How about doughnuts?”
“All right,” Bell answered, “of course you'll go to the store for more eggs and a pail of lard. We're out of molasses, eggs, lard, ginger, jelly, patience, and luck.”
Over an hour was spent in futile excursions through the cookery books, vain rummagings of the pantry and larder, frequent trips to the country store, and nothing was a triumphant success. Things that should have been thin were fat and puffy; those that should have risen high and light as air were flat and soggy; pots, pans, bowls, were heaped on one another in the sink until at one o'clock Alice Forsaith went to bed with a headache, leaving the kitchen in a state of general confusion and uproar. I cannot bear to tell you all the sorry incidents of that dreadful day, but Bell had shared in the blunders with the rest. She had gone to the store-room for citron, and had stumbled on a jar of frozen “something” very like mince-meat. This, indeed, was a precious discovery! She flew back to the kitchen, crying:
“Hurrah! We'll have the pies after all, girls! Mother has left a pot of mince-meat in the pantry. It's frozen, but it will be all right. You trust to me. I've made pies before, and these shall not be a failure.”
The spider was heated, and enough meat for three pies put in to thaw. It thawed, naturally, the fire being extremely hot, and it presently became very thin and curious in its appearance.
“It looks like thick soup with pieces of chopped apple in it,” said Lilia to Bell, who was patting down a very tough, substantial bottom crust on a pie plate.
“We-l-l, it does!” owned the head cook, frankly; “but I suppose it will boil down or thicken up in baking. I don't like to taste it, somehow.”
“Very natural,” said Lilia, dryly. “It doesn't look 'tasty;' and, to tell the truth, it does not look at all as I've been brought up to imagine mince-meat ought to look.”
“I can't be responsible for your 'bringing up,' Lill. Please pour it in, and I'll hold the plate.”