The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-02-20

4 IA ~ y tAC CSS DC0bCAs O6A : W A@e~'
spattery stuff =
Although Petrina likewise tried the
toasting fork, the potato-masher and
various other stirring implements
the mixture still refused to mix.
"Perhaps it'll run together as IL
RISES" breathed Petrina, washing the
discarded utensils. "But I wish tc
goodness / hadn't pretended to be a
breadmaker when I'm not. Think
Of doing all this twice week !"
An hour later the doubtful cook
added -four and a pair of reluctant
hands to the still exceedingly sticky
batter.
"I'm web-footed duck |" groaned
Petrina, eyeing her fettered fingers
with repugnance. st need somebody
to keep me scraped off. Mercy It'll
he year before this mess is ready to
knead. And the cook. books gone
shut. And how can get more -four
with these hands?"
In time, however, the sticky mess
grew smoother and firmer, until at
last the huge cold ball looked and
felt like real dough. Petrina scraped
the dried batter from her coated fin-
gers and looked at the clock. 1t was
later than she had supposed.
But" said she, complacently,
"the worst is over. I'll get all this
-four cleaned up, and nobody'll ever
guess what siege I've been through.
I'll have that bread in the oven by I
O'Clock"
But Petrina reckoned without her
dough. The yeast, chilled by the
long mixing, had perhaps become dis
couraged. At the end of an hour the
leaden mass showed no sign of rising.
At half past IL the telephone rang.
"Hello p sounded Roberts warn
ing voice. 'If you've any evidences
of guilt to conceal you'd better be
about it. Mothers had enough of
sightseeing. and is on her way home. !"
Anything to conceal That hideous
mound of leaden dough-surely no
mother-i -in-law could be permitted to
behold a failure like that But
where, in that tiny, one storied, cot
tage, could one conceal a crime of
such magnitude?
Perhaps, thought Petrina, "that
dough might be squeezed into some
thing smaller.
She seized the shining water pail,
and poked and punched the enormous
cold lump into it. But where should
she hide the pail? Apparently the
house afforded no concealment for
large tin pals of dough. She was
about to move the heavy davenport in
the living room in order to make space
behind it for the pail, when Mrs. Mar
tin became visible from the window.
Darting impetuously into the guest
room, Petrina hastily lifted the lid of
her mother-in-law's trunk, which she
knew to be empty, dropped the pail
inside, and thought she closed the
lid. Unfortunately, she did not know
that the lid had trick of sticking.
Of course, with all that dough on
her conscience, Petrina was not en-
tirely care-free that afternoon but
now, at least, she possessed definite
plan. The ash barrel, unfortunately,
discovered overaowing in her moment
of need, should be emptied the next
day. Robert should once more spirit
the guest away, and Petrina would
remove the dough to the barrel, cover
it neatly with ashes, and run to the
exchange for ready-made batch Of
bread. 1t seemed a good plan, but
it was never carried out.
While dressing for dinner that even.
ing, Mrs. Martin noticed that the
trunk lid was ajar, and by the same
token knew at once that some one
had had it open. She had an imme-
diate and alarming vision of thieves
in the house-quickly modified to her
intense bewilderment when, seeing
something white through the open
crack, she realized that whoever had
tampered with her trunk had put
something into it In the next sec
ond she guessed what had happened.
The thieves, interrupted, had thrust
their booty hastily into the trunk |
Summoning all her courage, Mrs.
Martin raised the lid and looked in.
Now it happened that the trunk,
with the pail resting in the deep, open
tray, stood within two inches of an
active hot air register; and bread
dough, as everybody knows, is con-
trary, nntrustworthy stuff. Having
refused to rise at the proper time,
now, when nobody wanted it to rise,
it was making up for its earlier def
cheney. Swollen to four times its
original bulk, the clean, vigorous
dough filled the tray with rounded,
puffy pillows. The trunk seemed
literally filled with it.
"Petrina |" called the bewildered
lady. "Robert Come here What
on earth is this?''
"It's-it's bread p stammered Pc
trina, guiltily. 81 spoiled it and
and hid it."
Spoiled it " exclaimed Mrs. Mar
tin. "Why, it's just right to go in
the pans. But, my dear child, there
must be enough here for ten loaves.
Do you always make so much? And
why did you put it here?"
Of course, since there was nothing
else to do, Petrina told the whole
story.
"Dear, dear !" laughed Mrs. Mar
tin. "And I thought thieves had
been here Don't scare me like that
again. There's that 'woman's ex-
change place, with everything so
good and SO reasonable. Why in the
world do you bother to bake when
you live almost next door to treas
ure like that. I'd have suggested it
long ago but for fear you'd think /
was criticising. Bless you, child, II
I were as smart with a needle as you
are, I'd buy all my bread, too |"
"This is the last time" declared
Petrina, scooping armfuls of dough