“It’ll never cool. It’s way after four now.” But she watched the deft fingers as they manipulated the sugar over the flame, until it had reached the right perfection of caramel color and was stirred fizzing into the lukewarm milk. “It won’t set,” said Mrs. Bryant, “mine never does except in real cold weather.” “Oh, yes it will. I put in an extra tablet to hurry it,” said Joyce. “Now, I want some cream. Can I take it off those two bottles? It looks rich enough to whip.” “Yes, it whips I guess,” sighed the woman, “but I never can get time for such frills. That’s why we’ve decided to sell the cow, it took so much time to tend to the milk. It’s really sold, but the man isn’t coming for it till next week.” Joyce worked breathlessly, one eye on the clock, and all the while her heart watching for a little house to come riding down the street, yet the time went by and no house appeared. Could it be that the men had gone back on their word, or that they had made a mistake and taken it to the wrong street, or that something had happened to the precious little structure on the way? The junket “set” and the cream whipped in spite of the anxiety of Mrs. Bryant, and at ten minutes to five both were on the ice, and the cherries were on a plate with a fork near by to place them on their setting of whipped cream at the proper moment. “You had better go and get ready yourself now,” said Joyce smiling, as she lifted the potatoes and poured them through the colander, setting them to steam dry for a moment before creaming them. “I’ll see to the peas, and the ham is just perfect. I’ll have it all on the platter ready to take in and keep it hot. You don’t happen to have a white apron you could lend me, do you? That is, if you want me to wait on the table.” “Oh, will you? I’d be so glad. I’m always nervous with city folks. Yes, I’ve got an apron. I’ll throw it down the back stairs. And I’ll just run up and change now, and smooth my hair. It won’t take a minute. They ought to be here any time now. I’m real relieved. I think things are going to be all right. If you have time you might cut the cake.”