Mary laughed at his elaborate compliments and shrugged her shoulders at his ridiculous exaggerations, but in her heart she knew that everything was good, and that he was enjoying each mouthful.  A simple salad came next, with a French dressing.  She had longed to try her hand at mayonnaise, but there wasn’t time, and lastly the doughnuts, crisp and feather-light and sugary, with clear, fragrant coffee, whose very aroma was exhilarating.

“Here’s a toast to the cook,” said Phil, lifting the fragile little cup, and smiling at her through the steam that crowned it: 

“Vive Marie! Had Eve served her Adam ambrosia half as good as this, raw apples would have been no temptation, and they would have stayed on in Eden for ever!”

It certainly was pleasant to have scored such a success, and to have it appreciated by her little world.

They might have lingered around the table indefinitely had not a knock on the door announced that Mrs. Maguire had come.  It was her afternoon to clean.

“So don’t cast any anxious eyes at the dishes, Mary,” announced Phil.  “We planned other fish for you to fry, this afternoon.  I proposed to the girls to take all three of you out for an automobile spin for awhile, winding up at a matinee, but Joyce and Betty refuse to be torn from their work.  They’ve seen all the sights of New York and they’ve seen Peter Pan, and they won’t ‘play in my yard any more.’  The only thing they consented to do was to offer your services to help me dispose of this last day of my vacation.  Will you go?”

“Will I go!” echoed Mary, sinking back into the chair from which she had just risen.  “Well, the only thing I’m afraid of is that my enjoyer will be totally worn out.  It has stood the wear and tear of so many good times I don’t see how it can possibly stand any more.  Why, I’ve been fairly wild to see Peter Pan, and I’ve felt so green for the last few years because I’ve never set foot in an automobile that you couldn’t have chosen anything that would please me more.”

“Hurry, then,” laughed Phil.  “You’ve no time to lose in getting ready.  And don’t you worry about your ’enjoyer’—­it’s the strongest part of your anatomy in my opinion.  I’ve never known any one with such a capacity.  It’s forty-horse power at the very least.”

Only a matinee programme was all that she brought back with her from that memorable outing, but long after it had grown yellowed and old, the sight of it in her keepsake box brought back many things.  One was that sensation of flying, as they whirled through snowy parks and along Riverside drive, past historic places and world-famous buildings.  And the delightful sense of being considered and cared for, and entertained, quite as if she had been a grown lady of six and twenty instead of just a little school-girl, six and ten.