"Well, we did fetch some choice tid-bits," Jane acknowledged, "and my paper bag broke, spilling the loveliest gooy-goo eclairs. Tim, the elevator boy, looked at me first fiercely, then as he scented the mix-up he smiled and--"

"Since then he has licked it up," contributed the irrepressible Judith.

"I don't blame him. Yum-yum, Jane, you are a born housekeeper. You may have my next s.h.i.+ft."

"Judith Stearns, if you attempt to duck your household responsibility once more we shall expel you. See if we don't. I have a mind right now to curtail your rations, and make you eat your pie without cheese."

"Spare me," pleaded Judith, "I might manage meat without spuds, but pie without cheese--"

Helen was enjoying the persiflage and serving her savory dishes at the same time. A well-balanced menu was the pride of Jane and her housekeeping. She had taken one course in domestic science, and the knowledge thus acquired she was trying on, as Judith put it.

"Think of home-made baked potatoes!" Jane exclaimed, as Helen untied the dainty little linen cover that hid the important vitamine dish.

"Oh, yes, and I will eat all the skin, Jane, so don't trouble to admonish me. I know the salts are in the skin, and I need the vitamines."

"What you need more than vits, Judy, are calories. You plainly need energy. As I recall the lesson, it says, an average person requires from two thousand three hundred, to three thousand five hundred calories daily. The lesser amount is given to desk workers, and the greater to the manuals, but as you are neither I should say you might need five thousand daily, then we might reasonably expect you to do your own K. P., all of which sounds like a Liberty Loan speech, doesn't it?"

"Janie Allen, since you are so expert, maybe you know that you require absolutely no carbohydrates. You are too sweet for anything in that stunning flannel check. I have always known that gray and pink make a perfectly wonderful picture, when done on a background of a good sized check. Now your gray eyes, and your pink cheeks--"

"Fen, fen, no fair," begged Jane. "You are mixing your standards. This is a domestic science lesson. You may thank Helen for these goodies."

Helen was proudly "serving" from a particularly savory ca.s.serole.

"Oh, indeed not. Jane chose the menu," Helen amended. "And our caterer knows us so well now, he always gives us the best."

"That's just the way, blessings brighten as they banish, and we are on our way to Wellington. But, Helen, I want to learn a few more Polish words. I am going to count them in on my foreign language list. I flunked in French, that is, I lost two points. Now what do you call meat in Polish?"

"Just meat is 'mieso,' but there are kinds of meat--"

"Oh, one kind will do me. And what is b.u.t.ter?"

"b.u.t.ter is 'malso.'"

"And bread? I should have to have bread."

"Bread is 'chleb.'"

"Then here is my order in a foreign tongue-with personal service of course. That's the kind you get where they make the pancakes in windows," and Judith took her share of the ca.s.serole supply.

"I shall order this way: Donnez-moi sil vous plait, une morceau de chleb, une hunk of mieso, and one ball of malso. There, does not that embrace three perfectly good languages?" asked Judith.

Helen laughed merrily at Judith's absurd mixture. "It would be very funny if they served you that way. The flavors would be very mixed,"

she said archly.

"Yes, Judy, you would get an allied menu. Better, I think, to win each battle separately, and eat in each country as you go along. Personally, I have a weakness for 'grub and chow.' After that selection I make it civilized to the extent of three courses but never five. You see, we have three, Judy. You may have your dessert this time also."

Helen seemed preoccupied, and in spite of the chatter she stopped often and looked intently at Jane. Finally Judith, vanquis.h.i.+ng the very last of her eclair, asked teasingly:

"What's on your mind, Helen dear? Met any more big men with long whiskers?"

Too late Jane's tug at Judith's skirt. Helen dropped knife and fork, and blinked to keep back tears.

"Now, Helen dear, I did not mean to make you feel badly. You know, I really like big, foreign-looking men, and I had no idea of ridiculing them," Judith sobered up instantly.

"Oh, it is not that, my friends, but I want to tell you so much.

Sometimes I think, what do you think of me? Then again I say, I must try to make plain--"

"No, you must not, indeed," Jane a.s.sured her. "Don't worry your head about what we think, when you know it must be something very nice. We like you and you like us, so why should we go digging up old matters?

When you want to tell us more about yourself we shall be very interested, but until you feel like it, we are perfectly content."

Helen's eyes still seemed about to overflow. Never had she looked so small and helpless, and she now displayed that att.i.tude of diffidence, peculiar to foreigners. Years of oppression leave their indent upon such impressionable characters, and Helka Podonsky, at that moment harked back, body and soul, to her untold life somewhere in Poland.

"Oh, thank you. I know how kind you are," she murmured. "But it must seem very strange. You know I love my people, and I love my country. It is not that-but--"

"Oh, we know, Helen dear," Judith tried to pacify. "And you must not think that because we are Americans, and have been born in these United States, we do not know of the hards.h.i.+ps of other countries. And even here, Helen, we girls have plenty of troubles of our own, don't we, Janie?"

"Indeed we do. Last year was not so bad at school, but when I came to Wellington first I was treated exactly like an outcast, except for Judith's wonderful protection and influence. That is why you must trust us. We are determined you shall not suffer, as even a Western girl was made to. Why, if I had been a real cowboy, with all the trappings, they could not have been more hateful to me at first."

Tactful Jane had hit upon this line of conversation to relieve the more personal trend. But Helen did not quite understand. Was Jane warning her?

CHAPTER XI-A STRANGE PREDICAMENT

"Our last expedition, girls. Shall we all make it?"

"Oh, don't tell us this is the wind-up of our glorious honeymoon! I feel exactly like a deserted bride. How can we leave it all for old Wellington, Jane?"

"Judy, dear, you forget the old saw about the fish that have not yet been caught. And I always thought you such a good sport."

"Janie, I know all that junk about fish. But just look at dear old New York! And see our applied science in exact housekeeping! I--"

"You were never exact, Judy. And I couldn't call that clump of wearables really scientific looking. In fact, I am worried about the expressmen coming in and grabbing up your train togs. Then you would have to go off in the flimsey you wore to the play last night. I fancy it would rather be outre en route."

"Now, Janie, don't flash anything like that on me, at the moment, I love French in a nice rich translation like Hugo, but the naked truth in French rather frightens me. Make it English. You mean to say it would be outrageous for me to wear a theatre gown while travelling.

There, I guessed it first shot. Give me one point."

"Seriously, Judith, the expressmen will be here this morning. You must realize they cannot carry things over their arms."

"Yes, I know. I have always thought it would be lots nicer if they did.

It musses things up so to have to pack them. But since my innovation is not yet current, I suppose I shall have to spoil everything by cramming them in their awful little boxes. Jane, did you ever hear of a current innovation?"

"Can't recall that I have, dear. But I know what you mean. Helen, are you going with us on our very last shopping tour?"

Helen was folding up the precious garments so lately acquired. The fondness with which she smoothed them betrayed her delight in their acquisition. Helen had vehemently protested she did not need so many pretty things, but Jane would have her fitted out as well, and perhaps a little better than most "fres.h.i.+es." Helen looked up with the eyes truly labeled violet, and like that wonderful flower, the depths of their color was softened to velvet by the least glint of dew.

"If you would not mind, Jane dear," she risked. "I feel I should like to have everything packed. And what more can we possibly buy?"