"
"Well, I shall not wait for him. Margery, if you will put the
kettle on and see to the fire, I'll make some of my cakes for
tea."
"I'll do it, Miss Alice; it's not good for you to go so long
without eating."
Alice now rolled up her sleeves above the elbows, and tying a
large white apron before her, set about gathering the
different things she wanted for her work, to Ellen's great
amusement. A white moulding-board was placed upon a table as
white; and round it soon grouped the pail of flour, the plate
of nice yellow butter, the bowl of cream, the sieve, tray, and
sundry etceteras. And then, first sifting some flour into the
tray, Alice began to throw in the other things one after
another, and toss the whole about with a carelessness that
looked as if all would go wrong, but with a confidence that
seemed to say all was going right. Ellen gazed in comical
wonderment.
"Did you think cakes were made without hands?" said Alice,
laughing at her look. "You saw me wash mine before I began."
"Oh! I'm not thinking of that," said Ellen; "I am not afraid
of your hands."
"Did you never see your mother do this?" said Alice, who was
now turning and rolling about the dough upon the board in a
way that seemed to Ellen curious beyond expression.
"No, never," she said. "Mamma never kept house, and I never
saw anybody do it."
"Then your aunt does not let you into the mysteries of bread
and butter-making!"
"Butter-making! Oh," said Ellen, with a sigh, "I have enough
of that!"
Alice now applied a smooth wooden roller to the cake with such
quickness and skill, that the lump forthwith lay spread upon
the board in a thin even layer, and she next cut it into
little round cakes with the edge of a tumbler.
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