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THK EVENING WORLD'S FICTION SECTION, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1928. the war, nnd Uio cost of living doubled, It wusn't an easy matter to manago that wedding. Mother had left It up to Temple and mc, and though Tem ple's only a servant, she's been with us bo long, she's just llko one of tho family; and though I'm only nineteen, which la thrco years younger than Lottie and five older than Edith, I'm u Ilrat-rato llttlo manageress, If I do Bay It myBclf, and can mako a nickel spread over a dlmo'8 worth of valuo pretty nearly always. There aro al most no economy dodgCB I don't know, from drippings to dycl llngerio ribbons. Tint this time Temple certainly did think of a new one. Sho kept lookng nt the eggo eggs were 85 cent! a dozen and the butter butter was 76 cents a pound and at tho great big pan we liad to make tho round cake In, and sho mourned. At last she edgrd up to mc and spoke low. "Say, Miss Kathy," she began, 'Tin thinking" I stopped chopping raisins and citron and waited. Sho had tho light of battle In her eye. "Miss Lcttio only wants the big cako for ornymlnt llko Isn't that so?'' "I've told you a thousand times," I said wearily, "that It's to bo In tho centra of the refreshment table, in Grandmother Oalnsley's old sliver tray. And you know you're to cover It wth one of your marvellous hard whltd frostlngs, with all tho fancy stuff and curleycucs that It could possibly have If It came from Trazzinl's." (Trazzlnl being our very best caterer.) Temple took tho 1 Ig pan and turned It upsldo -down, meditatively. "Look here," she Bald. "What If I was to tako this pan, now, upside down, just like tho cako will bo when wo turn it out, and cover tho pan witu my Icing, and dreBS it up with all tho curlycucs and fancy dewdlddlcs and all wouldn't it look just like a real cake, and wouldn't It do just as well for a centrepiece, and wouldn't it save us two dozen eggs and all that sugar and butter enough eggs fir your mil's and Miss Lottie's brcakfisU for a week? Ain't that a grand Idf a, Miss Kathy. dear? And we'd make the other cako and cut It up and ' ,put it in the little silver and white boxes and give them to the guedts, and devil a soul will know the differ but you and me. What d'ye say now" Twould Ix! saving a dollar sixty in eggs alone and the butter" NOBODY but those who havt had to scrapo and pinch tho wuy Temple and I've bad to do will appreciate what a tempta tion it was. I'd been" perfectly sick thinking about tho bills that would 1,3 coming in the first of tho month. Lct tio hadn't spared money on her trous seau, and mother'd had a now dress, and Edith and I had to have new ones, too, because we were to be bridea malds; and though I'd made them my self, and they were only organdie, they'd required new slippers and silk stockings and hats I'm not fool enough to try to mako hats for an occasion llko this. I know it wis going to tako a year's hard times to get us back to normal again. Molhct can't understand about bills. Sho al ways thinks shopkeepers ought to bo glad to supply us with things because we're such nlco pcoplo and had such wonderful ancestors. As for this wedding breakfast spread of Lcttto's that had been almost tho last straw. Sho and mother had la wanted to hand it all over to Trazzlnl, which meant that wo'd have another bill of about $500, for it was going to be a proud, splurgy affair, I can tell you. Our big old house and our gar den aro just flno as a background lor parties I often wish they weren't when I bco tho bills for chickens and Anger- rolls and Ice croam. I'd nuulo Lcttio agree to bo married In tho gar den, pointing out to her tactfully that sho was one of tho few girls whoso complexion could stand exposure to sunlight, and also that our Baltlmoio Ilolle roso vino over tho nrbor wo tall it a pergola now would bo in full bloom, and sho and Edgar and the roctor could stand before it. The real reason I wanted a garden wedding w.'.a because It would save money in hi use decorations. Our houso is picttv shabby nnd takes a lot of fixing to hido It. I'd been praylns very night for six weeks that tho weather would bo good, for I meant to have tho wed ding spread served In tho garden, too. Which brings me right lack to food again. Templo and I had gone over every Item, and wo knew that we could make the Jellied bouillon and tho sandwiches nnd the salad and tho patties, all by ourselves, at about ono-tonth tho C03t of Trazzlnl. Tho Ices we'd buy, but llttlo cakes to servo with them nnd Hie wedding cako and coffee and claret cup w'U uuke. Wo had It all figured out to the last centime, I can toll you, nn3 oven so It ran to a fearful sum of money. So when Templo suggested this perfectly simple way of saving several dollars, do you wonder th.lt I looked upon.lt with a kindly eye? "Nobody'll ever know but you and mo," sho repeated. "After Miss Lot tie's married 'and gone, who's to look ufter tho remnants of tho wedding feast but you and me, Miss Kathy? Wo'll melt down the sugar Icing oft tho pan and use it for pudding sauco, too. Oh, thoro won't be a thing wasted, whereas It wo have a great Iced cako to lo eaten up It'll iuat forever and be bad for yours nnd M,iss Edith's stummlcks. Your ma won't touch it, as you know, for fear It'd fatten her up. What do y' falter (or? It's tho grandest schemo I ever had, I'm sure. Look at thlm eggs and that butter! It's a crime to Iks wasting it, to say nothing of tho expense." I LOOKED at the butter and eggs, anil I looked at the pan, and I wondered. If anything should happen that it would be found out, Lcttio and mother would never forgive me, and, indeed, I wouldn't forgive myself. I wasn't going to havo our family made ridiculous be fore tho Sparthwaltes and their set, as well as all tho other peoplo I-cttio had asked. It would be a wonderful tidbit for the society papers thoy'd already been rather catty about tho. daughter of the shabby genteel family, who'd managed to land a Sparthwalto "Ilut If anybody should lift the tray, Temple It'll bo so much lighter than You can have some of 'cm In tho mush when It gets too tiresome." , It was all just as simple an that. I wilt aay for Temple that sho kopt tier word. We went ahead and baked the cake that was to bo cut up, and it came out fine. I was sort of afraid Edith might bo poking around again, and I know she'd noilco that wo hadn't baked tho round cake, but luckily she stayed away. As for Lottie and mother, they novor come Into tho kitchen. All Leltic said was, In that sweet dependent way of hers. Just a fow days before tho wedding: "Kathy, dear, are you sure every thing's, going to be all right?" "If wo only have good weather," I told her, "there isn't anything that can go wrong." "Edgar says his best man Is. so anxious to meet you," went on Lettle. She was trying on one of her trousseau gowns a llttlo blue and white dimity and sho looked llko a garden party angel In It, "Oh, that nice Dr. Blaine wo met pt Narragnnsett," said mother, who was Bitting by to help. "A charming man, Quite delightfully brusque and with a black muitachc. Why Is It so many bruoquo men havo black mustaches? The two almost always go together." I collapsed on the bed. I was tired. Tempie and I had cleaned alt tho sliver that day. Charming men, with or without black mustaches, were nothing to mo at that moment. All I wanted In the world was to get that wedding over without a hitch. LqtUe had forgotten about Dr. Blaine by ihls tlmo and gone back tn thoughts of tho wedding. "I do hopo sight of Temple's and my. wedding cako scheme, but Lcttlo's wovfd brought It back, and I had a shiver of premo nition. However, I know .'there wa plenty of tho other coke to giro her a pleco of it, and sho hadn't said any thing about tho round one. It seemed Bafo enough, but oh, my guilty con science troubled me about tho sham. I had If mother will permit me to use ono moro scrap of vujBr slang I had a hunch. "I'll sco that you get n piece, all right," I promised- "and now I'm going oft to bed, for I've got to bo up early to-morrow and begin to get tho house cleaned. Please don't bo around moro than you can help. Templo nnd I are going to sweup, scrub and polish tho furniture." t Lettlo ajnte over nnd gave mo a fond good-night kiss. "Llttlo sister." she murmured, "you'ro so good and so wonderful. What would I do with out you?" What, indeod, I wondered myself. T she draped that old tin pan in the most wonderful Coating of icing you ever saw. a leal cuke," I objected weakly. "Now, don't Ik; foolish, Miss Knthy," said Tempie, with contempt. "Who Is there that goes about at weddings lifting up the fancy dishes? If that worries you, I can slip a brick under the pan." "All right," I said at last. "Left, do It, Temple. But don't breathe It tn a soul. It's our secret yours and mine. If Edith finds It out we mlgnt as well publish it in tho papers, And tho waitresses wo havo in for tho re ception mustn't suspect, either." "They won't come until after the table is nil arranged," said Tempie. "An for Miss Edith I'm going to put this cake when It's baked under lock and key, anyway, for It needs all of Its two weeks' mellowing. Then, tho day before the wedding, when you'ro cutting it up and putting it In tho boxes I'll lie busy putting tho fine, thick, fane icing on tho pan." She gathered up the eggs nnd butlor we'd saved and carried them away. "There's enough here to last us tight up till the day of tho wedding If we're careful," she gloated, "and nothing moro need bo bought: and ns for raisins, we'll now have a store to laat till Christmas time or thereabouts. HE day before the wedding, in tho afternoon, Temple and I locked ourselves in tho pantry, drew down the blinds and lit the electric light. I went to work cut ting tho cake, and she draped that old tin pan in tho most marvellous cont.lni: of icing you ever saw. It was llko snow and hoarfrost. Delicate flutlngs ran over Its top, drawn into a delic'ous whirl In tho ceiitre. Exquisite little shells were placed all round the edge. It wasn't overdono, cither. It was Just right, and when Temple bad finished It was a regular fairy cake provided, of course, fairies aro tho size of brob dlngnags and cat cake. I could hardly, get my own work done for watching.' It really was a masterpiece. Somehow, I hardly know how, wij got the lovely thing off tho pastrv board and onto the beautiful old silver tray that Is the choicest piece of all tho old Gainsley silver. "When that gets a wreath of rosea round it." said Temple proudly, "there's no ono but will admire It a much as you nnd I, Miss Kathy. And all I hope is that the next one I Ice will bo for your wedding, with a grand, flno young man as wealthy and as handsome as this Lieut. Sparthwaile, or even more so." "Well, I'm not going to have a fako cake, I'll tell you that," I dcclire.1. "it'll bo the real thing or none." "And well said," exclaimed Temple. "There's naught of the fako about you, Miss Kathy." But as I looked at the beautiful deception I was helping to practise on my own sister. I wasn't so sure. the food Isn't going to look homemade and stupid," she said, pulling nt the dimity sash. "I can't see why I didn't have Trazzini, after all. I might have had Edgar pay for it afterward with out his knowing it, of course." "Well," I fired up, "we're pour, Lettle, but before I'd see a sister of mine skin her husband out of the money to pay for her wedding break fast, I'd work myself to shreds. Don't you worry about the food. It's going to bo the best you over uto, and It wilt look all right, too. Trazzlnl would be out of business if Temple nnd I over took up catering in n serious way, bc llovo mo." "You use such vulgar slang, dear," said mother sweetly Just the wuy I talk to Edith. " 'Skin' and 'bellivn me!' It really Isn't done" "I'm so glad I got those darling little boxes for the wedding cake," said Lettlo, taking no notlco elthor of mother or me. "When Templo cutj it, do remember to bring me a llttlo piece, Kath I might forget to taste It on the day of the wedding, I have so much to think of, and I'd really like to have a bit of my own wedding cake." I'd lxea so busy I'd almost lost I WOKE up early, early in Hie morning, and lcforo I was cvou half awake I listened to hear If it was raining. It wasn't. So I struggled slowly out of bed and went over to tho winilot7, half afraid to look out, for even if it wasn't mining it might be cloudy. But no, If ever there was a summer dawn that looked hue tho real thing, It was Lettie's wedding morning. Tho sky was that wonderful clear, still gray-blue that means san shlne all day long. "Thank heaven for that," I s..d, nnd proceeded to hop Into my clotl'.e" and hustle down to the kitchen. Two of Lettie's bridesmaids and tlvc ot Edgar's distinguished friends wens staying In the house, and that mrant breakfast trays. Early as I was. Temple was before me, and we hustled round like mad, keeping as ntlll as possible so that none of our guests would hear us and wake. We leaped at tho downstairs part of the house and cleaned it sub limely. Then, while she got the trays ready, I cut bushels and bushels of flowers. I always arrange them on the back porch, and there I was snip ping stems and pouring water behind a barricade of vases and bowls and jugs and great heaps of roses and larkspur and honeysuckle, when 1 heard someone walking through ths dining-room. I looked round, and there was Dr. Blaine, Edgar's best man, black mustache, brusque manners and all. I'd met him the night before, but hadn't n chanco to speak to him Indued, I'd hardly looked at him. I was nono too glad to see him this morning, for I was wearing n very dirty pink bungalow apron and a pnli of old white pumps that were a dis grace "I'm so sorry you woke so early," said, "for in half an hour you'd havo had your breakfast tray, all comfort ably In your room." "I always get up early, nnd I'll slip over to tho Inn for breakfast. That'll be one burden off your shoulders. Can I help you with these flowers?" I hate to be helped with flowers, and I suppose I looked It. "Oh, I can arrange them Just as nicely as you can," ho said. "I've lived in Japan and studied the native method. It has many Buperlorltica over ours." "Maybe It has," I agreed; "but I'm afraid I can't change my whole schemo of decoration oven so." And then I was ashamed of being so rude, and I relented. "If you'll put those pink roses In those blue and white china jars, It would be a help." He didn't say another word, but fell to work, and really ho arranged Shera beautifully with his square blunt-