As she made the explanation she had worked over the bread, which had risen to twice its first bulk, and put it into a tin pan, and set it to rise again. “That will only make one nice loaf, but it is as much as we shall eat while fresh. Now, while my hands are in flour, I will make a plain cake, and while it is baking, Marta, you and I will go up-stairs to the bedrooms. But first look well at the bread in the pan; you see it is barely half full; I worked it thoroughly, so that it has again to rise; when it is twice the size it now is it will be ready for the oven.” She got for her cake two eggs, half a cup of butter, one of sugar, and a cup and a half of flour, a lemon, a nutmeg, and a tea-spoonful of baking-powder. Remembering she would need them, she had brought half a dozen of lemons and an ounce of nutmegs in with her. She set Marta to cream the butter and sugar, while she separated the yolks of the eggs and beat the whites till they were quite firm. “This is only a plain ‘one, two, three, four’ cake, Marta, but it will be made nicer by the flavoring. When you know how to make this cake, always remember to vary the flavor, and the cake will seem much better than ordinary cup cake; sometimes you can add, the last thing, a cup of candied lemon and orange peel, cut fine,—I will show you how to candy them when we have collected enough,—or a cup of currants; either of these must be made warm, flour shaken through them, and the cake stirred only just enough, after they are in, to mix them, or they will all go to the bottom. This cake we will flavor with lemon and nutmeg. Mix the two yolks now with the butter and sugar, grate half the nutmeg, beginning at the blossom end or there will be a hole all through it; when you see that, always turn the nutmeg, begin at the other end, and there will be no hole; then grate the peel of the lemon to them, add a quarter tea-spoonful of salt, and mix all together; now sift in part of the flour with the baking-powder, then part of this cup of milk, now more flour, and the rest of the milk; the batter is rather stiff as yet, but the whites of the eggs will thin it enough,—they are the last to go in.” Molly buttered a cake-pan, and the mixture, a thickish batter, was poured in, and then powdered sugar was sifted over and the cake put in the oven. “The oven is nice and hot. I like to cover a cake the first half hour, so I will put this pie-pan over the top; another time I will have a piece of card-board ready and keep it for the purpose. Remember, if you want to make this cake when we are short of butter, you can use half lard. Now look at the bread; it will be ready in about twenty minutes, and the oven will be just nice for it. Meanwhile we will go upstairs.” CHAPTER VI. _Oysters on the Half Shell._ _Porterhouse Steak._ _Ragout of Lamb._ _Stuffed Potatoes._ _Lima Beans._ _Cheese Canapées._ _Lemon Pie._ WHAT “SIMMERING” MEANS.