"I didn't know that Potato Masher--I mean, I didn't know it would turn out so well," blushed Mary Frances. [Illustration: "I little thought she'd be on time."] [Illustration] "Invite somebody--can't I bring Bob and Eleanor over some day soon to lunch?" "Yes,'" said Mary Frances, "if Aunt Maria----" "Oh, by the way," said Billy "I 'most forgot! Aunt Maria had word her brother is sick at Upland, and she went to see him this morning, and can't possibly be back in time for breakfast. I guessed we'd make out O. K. I told her--I was thinking of our lunches, you know." "Billy--really?" asked Mary Frances, "but I'm sorry for Aunt Maria's brother." [Illustration: "Thank you kindly, Miss."] CHAPTER IX MARY FRANCES GETS BREAKFAST MARY FRANCES was a long time getting to sleep that night for thinking about breakfast. She had her little cook book, and Mother's last letter under her pillow. "Billy writes your lunches are 'scrumptious,'" ran her mother's letter. "I cannot tell how much comfort my little girl is to me." [Illustration: Mother's last letter.] "I've 'most a mind to tell Mother about the cook book," thought Mary Frances, "but won't she open her eyes when I tell her I've made everything--if I can keep the secret! I do hope I wake up in time. Father said he'd call me to breakfast, when he said "Good-night," but I want to slip down, and have everything ready when he comes." So she fell asleep, and dreamed she made an Angel Cake as big as a mountain, and that Jubey stole it, and fed all the hungry cats in the World. [Illustration: Jubey fed all the hungry cats in the world.] She had fixed the curtain so that the first sunlight would fall on her face, and it seemed only a breath of time until she felt it call her. How sleepy she was! "I'll get down before the Kitchen Folks are awake," she whispered. She carried her little shoes in her hand and stole softly downstairs, stopping in the dining-room to put them on. "Nonsense, you!" she recognized the voice of Tea Kettle. "Just wait till I read it out of my little book," mimicked a new voice. "For shame, you saucy Pan!" exclaimed Big Iron Pot. "Just wait until I read it!" Mary Frances peeped into the kitchen. In the middle of the floor stood little Sauce Pan, pretending to read out of a book: "'How to Make Potato Pie Out of Sauer-kraut.'" "Silly!" exclaimed Potato Masher. Sauce Pan repeated: "To Make Potato Pie Out of Sauer-kraut: "1. Fill eight potatoes with Sauer-kraut, and peel them. [Illustration: To Make Potato Pie Out of Sauer-kraut.] [Illustration: "For shame, you saucy Pan!"] "2. Make a crust of the left-overs. "3. Bake the parings well, and serve very hot on ice." Just then Mary Frances sneezed. How Sauce Pan ran, and jumped up to his place on the rack! He looked so shamefaced when Mary Frances went in, that she hadn't the heart to scold him. Instead, "Boiled Eggs," she called. He pretended to be asleep. Then she took him by the arm and shook him.