MOTHER'S SURPRISE
AFTER one last look, Mary Frances, hearing the sound of carriage wheels,
ran to answer the door before the bell rang; but Billy was there, too,
and they opened the door together.
"Oh, Mother!" cried Mary Frances; "you dear, darling Mother! What a
'cry-baby' I am!" (as the tears rolled down her cheeks, and Mother
kissed her and Billy and Father again and again) "What a 'cry-baby!'"
"Which she is not!" declared Billy. "Tell Mother,--Mary Frances, I can't
wait for you to tell your secret!"
"A secret?" smiled Mother. "A secret, Mary Frances?"
[Illustration: "A secret?"]
"Oh, how good something smells!" said Mother. "It makes me hungry."
"Come right out, then," said Mary Frances, bowing, "Dinner is Served."
[Illustration: "You dear, darling Mother!"]
"Here?" asked her mother. "I im-ag-ined we'd go over to Aunt Maria's."
"No, Mother, dear," laughed Mary Frances, happily; "it's the 'surprise'
for you." And they went into the dining-room.
"Wh--wh--why! how did this happen?" asked Mother. "Where did this feast
come from?"
Everybody laughed and talked at the same time.
"Mary Frances is guilty," laughed Billy; and Mary Frances "owned up."
"Mother," said she, bringing her worn and somewhat soiled little cook
book and putting it in her Mother's lap, "I've made everything! I've
gone 'all through' my book! I got dinner to-night!--that's your
surprise."
[Illustration: "How did this happen?"]
[Illustration: "I've made everything!"]
"My own dear, lovely child!" said Mother. "You dear, precious
baby-woman!" And taking Mary Frances in her lap, she hugged and kissed
her again and again.
* * * * *
"I'm awfully sorry I couldn't exactly explain about you--you dear
Kitchen People," whispered Mary Frances, going out to bid them
good-night. "If it hadn't been for you, I never, never could have done
it,--my dear, dear, friends."
"You'll not need us soon again," said Tea Kettle, sadly. "We're
sorry--yet we're glad that your mother will take our place as teacher
now."
"Will you help me when I do need you?" asked Mary Frances.
"When you do," they promised, and she threw them a kiss.
"Good-night, little Miss," they cried; and when she turned round again,
they looked just like any or-din-ary kitchen utensils.
For a minute she felt very lonely; then, remembering, she said gladly,
"But they promised!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration: "Oh, Mother!" cried Mary Frances.]
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page vii, "Buscuits" changed to "Biscuits" (Baking Powder Biscuits)
The following corrections are all made to illustration captions. As this
was only possible to make in the txt version, these corrections do not
appear in the HTML version.
Page 58, illustration, "scacely" changed to "scarcely" (I can scarcely)
Page 67, illustration, "whisper" changed to "whispered" (Sauce Pan
whispered)
Page 95, illustration, two instances of "riblon" were retained on the
assumption that it is an example of Mary Francis' spelling in her
handwritten invitation.
Page 98, illustration, "Biscuts" changed to "Biscuits" (Baking Powder
Biscuits)
Page 124, illustration, "creace" changed to "crease" (Make creace
through the)
Page 124, illustration, "loke" changed to "look" (Then it will look
like)
Page 139, illustration, "pan" changed to "Pan" (Teased Sauce Pan)
End of Project Gutenberg's The Mary Frances Cook Book, by Jane Earye Fryer