“I hope we shall see much of each other, Mrs. Bishop. Mrs. Winfield told me we should have a great deal in common, being both devoted to cooking-school.” Molly responded suitably and Mrs. Framley left. Molly had made some mixture for croquettes early in the morning, going minutely over every detail with Marta, using cold veal with a slice of the boiled pork, chopped together very fine, in place of chicken. Some of the stock in which the veal was boiled, which was now a firm jelly, was used, and as there was no cream, Molly used half a gill of milk to the gill of stock, and an egg beaten; the milk and stock were stirred to the butter and flour (see recipe for chicken croquettes) and boiled till thick and smooth, the meat and seasoning then added, and when it was all hot, the beaten egg. After this was in, the mixture was only stirred one minute, and then taken off the fire, the object being to bring the whole to boiling-point, but not to curdle the egg. The mixture was put out on a dish and set to get cold and firm, and Marta told to make it into croquettes according to her recipe. As Molly was very anxious that Marta should thoroughly master the art of making croquettes, she had intended to oversee the forming and frying of these, which were for her lunch; but Mrs. Framley’s visit had interfered, and when she went to the kitchen she found Marta had one croquette on paper in the colander and was fishing in the hot fat with her skimmer. “What is the matter, Marta?” asked Molly, although she could guess what had happened. Marta pointed to the top of the fat, which was covered with crumbs of meat, and lifted two empty shells of croquettes from it. “I see what has happened, Marta, but don’t be discouraged. You have some mixture left, and you must do this over again for breakfast to-morrow. I can tell you the reason of this accident, and once we know the cause of a failure, it can easily be set right. Had it not been for that one perfect croquette I should have said that the fat might not have been hot enough; that is a frequent cause of croquettes bursting,—they have time to melt inside before the crust is formed, but in this case the fault has been in the size. You must have made them too large. Don’t you think that one, which is perfect, was smaller than the others?” “Yes, it was. I was afraid that one was too small.” “It was just right, you see, and after this I think you’ll know. Before you put that croquette mixture away, Marta, keep out a large tea-spoonful, and after luncheon I will come and make some balls for soup.”