"Great! I'm glad you haven't, because that will give me an opportunity of shining in an art at which I excel." The lad seemed brimming over with enthusiasm. Jane smiled up at him. He stood a head taller than she, with wide, square shoulders that looked so strong and capable of carrying whatever burden might be placed upon them. "How did you happen to learn how to cook?" the girl inquired, and then wondered at the sudden change of expression in his handsome face. The joyful enthusiasm of the moment before was gone and in its place was an expression both tender and sad. "The last year of my little mother's life we two went alone to our cabin on the Maine coast. Mums wanted to take our Chinaman, but I begged her to let me have her all alone by myself, and so under her direction I learned to cook. Miss Abbott," the boy turned toward her, seeming to feel sure of her understanding sympathy, "that was the happiest summer of my life, but it had the saddest ending, for, try as I might to keep her, my little mother faded away and left us." Then abruptly he exclaimed, as though he dared not trust himself to keep on: "Won't you lead me to the kitchen, and when the wanderers return we will have a feast ready for them." CHAPTER XIX. A NEW COOK Such a pleasant half hour was spent by these two who seemed content just to be together, Jane, with a twinge of regret, realized that the youth was idealizing her. He constantly attributed to her qualities that she well knew that she did not possess. He told her that he could understand why she had not learned to cook simply because for years she had been away at a fashionable seminary. "But now is your golden opportunity, and I am indeed lucky to be your first teacher." That he was pleased was quite evident. "I am sure you agree with me, Miss Abbott, that cooking is as essential in a young woman's education as painting or singing." Then he laughed boyishly. "I'm afraid, when I am hungry that I would far rather have a beautiful girl cook for me than sing to me. Now, what is the menu to be?" Jane looked about the kitchen helplessly. She did not wish to confess to Jean Sawyer that she had not before been in there except to pass through it to their outdoor dining-room. "Julie and Dan were planning the meal. I really don't know." The situation was relieved by Jean's asking: "May I prepare anything I can find?" "Oh, yes, do please! It really doesn't matter which of our supplies are used first." The girl was glad to have the problem thus easily solved. After a few moments of ransacking, the lad looked up from a box as he asked: "Miss Jane, will you pare the potatoes?"