“Yes,” sighed the lady comfortably, leading the way to the kitchen. “I hope you’ll let me know right away if there’s anything else you need, because I hate to be disturbed when I’m taking a nap.” She trailed away from the scene before Joyce realized the whole situation, or it is doubtful if she might not have fled even yet. The kitchen was stacked with soiled dishes in every available spot, and soiled dish towels, grocery bags huddled together between piles of plates and pans and potato peelings. It was evident that not only the breakfast and lunch dishes were unwashed but also the dinner dishes of the night before, and possibly some from lunch of the day before. It was a wreck of a kitchen and no mistake. Joyce stood still in her pretty new blue dress in the midst of it all, appalled at what was expected of her. It seemed to her that no two girls could accomplish all that had been given her to do before seven o’clock. The cooking alone was enough to keep her on the jump, without all the cleaning. She was minded to get at the preparations for dinner first and leave the clearing up to take care of itself when the lady came down again, only that absolutely nothing could be done until there was a clean place in which to work. Joyce had been in hard places before, with a meal ahead to get for company in a short time, and had rather enjoyed the sharpening of her wits to win the game and get it done in time. But never had she had such a kitchen as this to deal with. At first glance her soul revolted from having to touch it. The floor was grimy and messy with things spilled on it. Numerous dishes standing under the sink out of the way with fragments of food burned hard to them showed discouraging impossibilities ahead. The sink was filthy with grease and the dish-pan filled with greasy water. It was all simply unspeakable. She scarcely knew where to begin. Investigation showed there was no hot water, and that the source of it was in a tank heated by a small laundry stove in the cellar, which was out. Joyce descended the cellar stairs, found an axe, and split up a box, and finally got the laundry fire going. Then she came upstairs, and put three pans and the teakettle full of water to heat on the gas range. While they were heating she went to the refrigerator to see what was on hand for that soup which she was supposed to make.