Soup, milk and almonds $.20 Chickens, two 1.75 Potatoes and corn .25 Lettuce and cherries .30 Cream and berries .30 ----- $2.80 Adding the little things as before, the flowers, nuts, olives, pay of the waitress, and a margin, brought this up to a trifle over four dollars. "That is too much," said Mary soberly, as she set down the figures. "I mean to keep strictly within a four-dollar limit. So our third dinner, Dolly, must be less than these and even things." This was the third dinner: Clear soup with tapioca. Salted nuts, radishes, almonds. Roast of veal, stuffed; fresh mushrooms; potatoes. Lettuce with chopped nuts; French dressing. Strawberry ices. Coffee. "That is a good, sensible dinner," said Dolly. "No frills, unless you count the mushrooms." "It is the cost of the waitress that makes these dinners so expensive," said her sister. "It provokes me to have to put money on that, yet I will do it at a real dinner-party. But as for the rest, this ought not to be a costly affair." The soup was made of very ordinary materials, but it looked and tasted well. The roast was crisply browned and juicy within, and the delicious stuffing and broiled mushrooms were substantial and good. The salad was lettuce covered with chopped almonds put on after the French dressing. The ices called for no cream and so were inexpensive. The figures showed this result: Soup $.15 Veal 1.20 Mushrooms, quarter of a pound .25 Potatoes, radishes, almonds, etc. .35 Lettuce, nuts, dressing, crackers .20 Ices .20 ----- $2.35 "Ah, that's better," said Mary, when she saw the total. "Then the flowers were the same as before, only red instead of pink tulips; the waitress, too, and the margin--only $3.25. I feel relieved." "Of course roast veal is not quite as good as Maryland chicken," said Dolly, "but the mushrooms made it seem quite elegant; broiled mushrooms are certainly food for the gods. It is quite a saving to have an ice instead of an ice-cream, isn't it? And Mary, did you see what a big, big piece of roast was left over?" "That is one of the good things about veal, that there is so little waste. I am sure we can easily make two dinners out of it, and that will save ever so much. And when we can get ahead at all, Dolly, we must hurry and have our luncheons." CHAPTER X Reducing Expenses