THE next day not being a very busy one for Marta, Molly proposed to candy the lemon-peels, that had been lying in brine until enough had been collected. There were now the peels of nearly a dozen. These were put on in cold water, and when they had boiled an hour this was thrown away and fresh cold water put on them, the object being simply to freshen them. When they began to get tender Molly tasted them to see if any salt remained in them, but she found them quite fresh; had they not been, she would have changed the water once more. When they were tender enough to run a straw through them, which was when they had boiled nearly three hours, they were poured off, and a pint and a half of water and a pound and a half of sugar were put to boil to syrup, while Molly and Marta cut the peels into chips less than an inch long and a quarter inch wide. To accomplish this quickly Molly told Marta to cut each half lemon-peel into three equal sizes, then to lay one on the other, and cut across all three; the chips were about the right size thus cut. When the syrup boiled the chips were dropped in; it was allowed to boil again, and to keep boiling slowly till the peels were clear, then more rapidly till there was so little liquid that they were in danger of burning; then they were drawn to the back of the range for the remaining syrup to dry away without burning. When they were at this point Molly sprinkled half a pound of sugar through them and spread them out on plates, telling Marta to put them in the oven with the door open, and let them remain all night to dry. She explained to Marta, if ever she tried to do them alone, to remember there must be always enough syrup to cover the peels at first, made in the proportion of a pound of sugar to a pint of water. Of course, although the process was a long one, the only attention required was to prevent the peels burning toward the last. Molly knew she would be in the kitchen a good deal this week, for she did not expect Marta to be able to do much alone. The day on which she candied lemon-peels she planned to make iced cream coffee, a cake, and show Marta about the dinner.