“No, Marta, the middle fold, lengthwise, and exactly in the centre; now the flowers, now a plate to each person, the napkin to the left with a piece of bread in it, a large and a small knife, two forks and a spoon to each person; above these the glasses and a butter-plate.[1] Now put this carving-napkin in front of Mr. Bishop, lay the large table-mat there, and when you bring in the meat set the dish upon it. Now count the dishes and set a mat for each, one salt-cellar and pepper-caster at each right-hand corner, two table-spoons at the same place. Now that is all, and you can come and peel peaches.” Molly heard the meat in the oven sputtering and hissing, and found it browning nicely. She basted it, turning the potatoes over, and closed the oven. It was twenty minutes past five. “Marta, I want you to pay attention to everything I do, because the next time we have this dinner I shall expect you to cook it alone, and when you have learnt to roast one piece of meat properly, you will be able to roast any other. Remember the rules,—your oven must be quite hot when the meat goes in; if, after a while, you find danger of its burning, cool it, but meat can’t get brown too quickly to retain the juices. You must put no water in the pan, for that steams it. If your meat is so very lean that it will be dry, it is of such poor quality that you should not try to roast it (and that sort of meat you will not have to cook for me), or it is a part unsuitable for roasting, and should be cooked some other way. Baste often, and when meat is half done,—that is, brown and crisp on top,—turn it over, as I shall do that lamb in a few minutes. Above all things, meat must be _brown_ if roasted.” Marta had peeled the eight peaches Molly had given her, and the latter now told her to three parts fill a gallon saucepan with water from the kettle, which she had taken care to see full when she set the oven to heat, and which was now boiling. “Put it in the hottest spot, Marta; we want it to boil quickly. Now that cabbage: it is only a small head, so you can cut it in four, and remove the outer leaves,—also cut away the core; wash it thoroughly in two waters; now hold the colander in your left hand, and as you wash the cabbage through the second water lay it in it; then pour the water out of the pan and set the colander in it, so that all water may run off the cabbage; the thing we want is to check the boiling water as little as possible, which the cabbage, filled with cold water, would do. Now I am going to turn the meat over, so that the under side will brown, while you pour the water off that macaroni; it is just tender but not breaking.”