"No, Mother. Mildred and I never forget to wash up and put things away ever since she said we couldn't come into the kitchen at all unless we always did that. Do you remember how cross she was?" "I don't wonder, Brownie. Some day when you have a kitchen of your own you will be cross, too, if little girls come in and use your pots and pans and leave them all sticky and messy." "Of course I will. It makes me feel real cross now just to think of it. I guess we'd better plan the dessert before I get worse." "Perhaps we had," laughed Mother Blair. "Those children must have something very simple, indeed, and I really can't think of anything better for them than cornstarch pudding." "Well," said Brownie doubtfully, "that certainly won't hurt them." "I know you don't like it very well, and grown people don't care for it either, but it is good for children, and if you learn to make it for them you can easily change the rule a little bit and make it in half a dozen different ways which grown-ups do like. I'll give you two or three rules for your book and you can try them all. Here is the first, for your party:" PLAIN CORNSTARCH PUDDING 2/3 cup of scalded milk; put in the double boiler. 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of cornstarch. 1/2 tablespoonful of sugar. 1 pinch of salt. 2 tablespoonfuls of cold milk. 1 egg. 1/4 teaspoonful vanilla. While the milk is heating till it scalds (that is, till the top wrinkles, but it does not quite boil), mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the cold milk and then pour slowly into the scalded milk, stirring well all the time till it grows thick; put on the cover and let it cook eight minutes. Beat the egg without separating it and stir this in and cook one minute; take it off the stove, add the vanilla, pour it into a mold and let it get firm; serve with cream. "You see that isn't bad at all; but to make it ever so much better try this:" CHOCOLATE CORNSTARCH PUDDING Melt a square of unsweetened chocolate by putting it into a saucer over the steam of the tea-kettle; stir this in just before adding the egg. Pour into a pretty mold on ice; turn it out and heap whipped cream around it. ALMOND CORNSTARCH PUDDING Use almond flavoring instead of vanilla, and when you take the pudding off the fire, stir in a cup of chopped almonds. Serve with whipped cream. "That last one sounds, oh, so good, Mother. Can't I make that for Sunday dinner?" "Yes, indeed you can, and Father will love it, I know. Now, Brownie, let me tell you just one thing more about the dessert for the party; put the pudding into egg cups, and fill them just half full; then you see when you turn them out they will be lovely little molds, one for each child; and you can have the cream in the small silver pitcher to pass with them."