"Now, Father," begged Mary Frances, "please let me do it and I'll have everything on the table in no time." "Ho-ho! little Miss Housekeeper doesn't need any help. Very well!" [Illustration: Sauce Pan whispered something to Coffee Pot.] [Illustration: "It keeps me so sad."] "I did need help with the fire, Father," said Mary Frances; "it was a great help, but----" "All right, Girlie," said Father, "I'll read my paper; you call us when you're ready." In a very few minutes she did call them, and a fine breakfast it was, too; for Mary Frances knew _how_ so well that not a minute was wasted. "Ain't she the loveliest cook," whispered Coffee Pot to Sauce Pan, as Mary Frances disappeared through the dining room door with the eggs. "Loveliest ever!" said Sauce Pan. "I really was afraid to call her for fear her father would hear. I'm so sorry----" "Yes," nodded Toaster Man, "I can't seem to get it off my mind. It keeps me so sad--won't you tell us a story?" "I can't get it off my mind, either," said Sauce Pan, with a sob, "but I'll do my best. Here goes: "Our little Miss sat down and cried, And called her Sauce Pan to her, 'I feel so berry bad inside, I wish you'd (h)eat some sugar.'" [Illustration: "I can't get it off my mind, either."] [Illustration] "Oh, silly!" interrupted Toaster Man, "don't make fun,--besides, you know that's not true." "Well," replied Sauce Pan, "I thought you wanted a story!" "Pooh!" puffed Tea Kettle, "What a poor pun! I should think you'd all be tired out. Let's take a nap." "I just want to say I love our little Miss just the same," said Sauce Pan. "And I!" "And I!" cried all the Kitchen People. [Illustration: "A kiss and a bear hug," laughed Mary Frances.] CHAPTER XI A JOKE ON AUNT MARIA "OH, hum-m-m! O, yah, yah, yah," yawned Tea Kettle next morning, stretching his funny little arms. "Oh, I say," he shouted, "Wake up! We've overslept. Wake up, everybody! Where's our little mistress, I wonder?" "Nice memory,--yours!" drawled Sauce Pan. "Don't you remember they all went over to Aunt Maria Hush's for dinner Saturday night, and for Sunday?" [Illustration: "I'd like to know why not"] "Aunt Maria Hush!" roared Tea Kettle. "That's not her name!" "I'd like to know why not," said Sauce Pan. "Every time I go to say anything when she's here, somebody says, 'Keep still--that's Aunt Maria,--Hush!" "Ho, ho, ho, hee-hee-hee!" laughed all the Kitchen People. "That meant, 'Be still,' Goosie," Tea Kettle explained. [Illustration: "Oh, hum-m-m! O, yah, yah, yah."] [Illustration] When Aunt Maria and Mary Frances came into the kitchen later, the old lady was talking. "Very creditable, child," she said, looking at the shelves, all in order, "very creditable indeed. I can't understand it--with no one to show you how to----" "I have my little book," said Mary Frances.