“Then you must be very careful indeed, or you will lose all your day's work, and your sugar besides, for it is very easy to burn.”
“But how can you tell when it is ready?”
“Oh, you must just keep tasting every few minutes till you think you have the syrup, and then for the sugar you must just boil it a little longer.”
“Well,” said Mrs. Murray, “when it is ready what do you do?”
“Then,” he said, “you must quickly knock the fire from under it, and pour it into the pans, stirring it till it gets nearly cool.”
“And why do you stir it?” she asked.
“Oh, to keep it from getting too hard.”
“Now I have learned something I never knew before,” said the minister's wife, delightedly, “and I am very grateful to you. We must help each other, Ranald.”
“Indeed, it is little I can do for you,” he said, shyly.
“You do not know how much I am going to ask you to do,” she said, lightly. “Wait and see.”