Part 13 (2/2)

”Goin' t' bake a cake, is yo'?” asked Dinah, when Nan came out in the kitchen the next Sat.u.r.day, which was the date of the party. ”Don't yo'

all t'ink yo'd bettah let me make it fo' yo'?”

”No, thank you, Dinah, I want to make it myself,” said Nan. ”I want to show the girls and boys that I know how to make a cake almost, if not quite, as well as you and mother make them.”

”Well, honey, ef yo' makes a cake as good as yo' ma, den yo' will suttinly be a fine cook,” returned Dinah. ”Fo' yo' ma is suah a prime cake-maker!”

”Oh, I don't suppose the cake will be as good as mother's,” said Nan, ”but still I'll never learn if I don't try.”

So Nan began her cake. Flossie and Freddie were playing out in the yard, but when they saw Nan in the kitchen, in they came, running.

”I'm going to help!” cried Freddie.

”So'm I,” added his sister.

”Well, there's not much you can do,” said Nan, ”except to hand me the things I need. First I'm going to get everything together on the table, and then I won't have to fuss around, and get in Dinah's way.”

”Oh, yo' won't be in mah way, honey-lamb!” said the loving old colored woman. ”Jest make yo'se'f right t' home.”

Nan got from the pantry the eggs, the flour, the sugar, and the other things that were needed to make a sponge cake. Then when she had the brown bowl ready in which the cake batter would be mixed she sat down on a high stool at the table, with Flossie on one side and Freddie on the other.

”Now, Flossie, you hand me an egg,” said Nan, and Flossie picked one up from the dish. She was handing it over to her sister, but her chubby fingers slipped and--crack! went the egg down on the floor, breaking, of course.

”Oh dear!” cried Flossie. ”Now the cake is spoiled!”

”Oh, no, not because one egg is broken,” said Nan. ”But still we must be more careful. Perhaps I had better handle the eggs myself.”

”You had if you want any cake,” called Bert, looking in through the window on his way to play ball with Ned Barton and Charley Mason.

”Oh, I guess we'll make out all right,” laughed Nan. She broke the eggs into the dish, and then she let Flossie and Freddie take turns in handing her the flour, sugar, and other things she needed; things that could not be broken if little hands dropped them. But nothing more was dropped, though Nan herself did spill a little flour on the floor.

”Is this batter right now, Dinah?” Nan asked, when she had stirred up the cake mixture with a long spoon. The cook looked in the brown bowl.

”Jest a leetle mo' flour,” she said, ”den it'll be stiff enough an'

ready fo' de oven. An' after it's baked yo' kin mix up de sugar-icin' t'

go on de top.”

Nan stirred in more flour and then poured the batter into a pan to be baked in the oven of the stove. She carried the pan carefully across the kitchen.

”Don't fall and spill it,” called Flossie.

”I'll try not to,” Nan said.

Just then into the kitchen with a rush came Snap. He saw Nan with a pan in her hands, and he must have thought she had something for him to eat, for with a joyful bark he made straight for her.

”Oh, hold him back! Don't let him come near me or I'll spill my cake before it's baked!” cried Nan. ”Hold Snap, Flossie--Freddie!”

”We will!” cried the smaller twins.

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