“Well,” replied Billie, biting off her thread calmly, “we have to eat while we’re there, you know.”

“No!” cried Chet sarcastically.  “You may, sweet sister, but not us.  We are too ethereal.”

“Say, is he insulting us?” cried Ferd indignantly.  “Say that again, I dare you—­”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake keep still!” cried Laura, clapping her hands to her ears.  “You make me deaf, dumb and blind.  Now, Billie, what were you going to say?”

“Simply, that since we do have to eat, Chet or anybody else to the contrary,” she looked at her brother and dimpled adorably, “we will have to decide who is going to do the cooking.”

“Why, I suppose we’ll take our turns at it, as we’ve done before when we have been camping,” said Laura, in surprise.

“I know.  But what I want to find out is, are the boys going to do any of the work?”

“Good land, is she asking us to cook?” asked Ferd.  “Why, Billie, we don’t know a thing about it!”

“And don’t want to learn,” added Chet fervently.

“Oh, you big fibbers!” Billie’s eyes danced as she looked at them.  “I remember—­oh, I have a very good memory,” and she glanced sideways at Teddy, who was beginning to look uncomfortable.  “I remember a certain person telling me how beautifully you boys cooked while you were at camp.”

“Say, Billie, that’s not fair,” cried Teddy, with a guilty note in his voice that made his two comrades look at him accusingly.

“Aha, we see the villain!” cried Ferd threateningly.  “What’ll we do with him, Chet?”

“Nothing’s bad enough for such a crime,” said Chet ruefully.  “What did you make such a break for, Ted?  I thought I’d brought you up better.”

“Gee, Billie, do you see what you’ve let me in for?” said Ted miserably, but Billie only regarded him with laughing eyes while Laura and Violet seemed to be enjoying the situation immensely.

“I don’t see what I did,” Billie replied innocently.  “I thought I was paying you boys a compliment by saying that you could cook well.”

“But we can’t,” cried Ferd, seizing the opportunity eagerly.  “Gee, Billie, you couldn’t eat the awful messes we make.  Why, you’re a good cook—­”

Billie raised a cushion threateningly in the air.

“None of that!  None of that!” she warned him.  “We see through you, villain!”

“Say, she must think you’re one of the Cherry Corners ghosts,” broke in Teddy whimsically.  “It’s pretty hard on a fellow when you can see through him, Billie.”

“But honest you couldn’t,” Ferd insisted, not to be defeated in this one last hope.  “Really, I don’t know enough about an egg to take the shell off when I fry it.”

“Idiot,” cried Billie, throwing the pillow at him in earnest.  “Who ever heard of fried egg in the shell?”

“I did,” cried Ferd, unabashed by the laughter and the scornful glances turned his way.  “Ladies and gentlemen, you see before you to-night the man that invented it.”