She poured the stock to the flour and butter and stirred till smooth, and then added half a pint of milk,—“and, as I have no cream, Marta, I kept the egg left from the forcemeat balls—I used very little of it—to add to this soup the last thing, just as you do for the bisque of clams.” While the soup was all coming again to the boiling-point at the back of the range, Molly dropped the tiny forcemeat balls into boiling water, let them simmer half a minute, then strained them out and added them to the soup; then, with a caution to Marta not to let the egg curdle, she went to add a few touches to her toilette before Harry came home. CHAPTER XVIII. BROILED LAMB’S KIDNEYS—MRS. LENNOX STARTLED—CORN-BEEF HASH. WHEN Molly had said Marta was to make croquettes for breakfast, she had forgotten that she had kidneys in the house; but, remembering it before she went to bed, she told Marta she would come down and broil them herself, which she accordingly did, knowing kidneys are very easily spoiled by bad cooking. She split each kidney down the back, or thick side, but did not sever the core or membrane, so that when opened they lay flat, but still in one. Then she ran a long skewer through the centre bit of fat and brought it out again, in such a manner that the kidney lay open flat _under_ the skewer, which was attached to it only by that stitch through the middle; then a second kidney was run on in the same way till they were all threaded, the skewer lying across them all; but nowhere did it pierce the flesh of the kidney. This arrangement prevents the kidneys’ curling up in unsightly fashion and secures their being equally cooked. They were laid on a hot gridiron, and a dish and plates made very hot to receive and serve them on; and while Molly cooked them, Marta carried in breakfast, for kidneys are things that are spoiled by waiting. She turned them often for about four minutes. During the process she had put in the little dish that was to receive them a piece of butter the size of a butternut, a level salt-spoonful of salt, a little pepper, and a tea-spoonful of Worcestershire sauce. When the kidneys were done they were removed from the skewer, and each well rolled in the hot butter and seasoning. They were just enough cooked in that four minutes for the gravy to start when the fork pricked them; if over-cooked they become tough. “Kidneys!” cried Harry, as Molly removed the heated vegetable-dish-cover she had used to send them unchilled to table. “Dear Molly, where do you scare up these metropolitan dainties in the wilds of Jersey?” “Nothing so easy; actually, the butcher throws them in with his tallow, and seemed surprised that I wanted them.” “I’m afraid such ignorance can’t last,” said Harry “and when he finds lamb’s kidneys are really very desirable, he will value them accordingly.”