“Well, dear Bishop,” said Felicia, who had always called him so, “I knew how overwhelmed you were with your work.  I did not want to burden you with my plans.  And besides, I am going to offer you my services.  Indeed, I was just on my way to see you and ask your advice.  I am settled here for the present with Mrs. Bascom, a saleswoman who rents our three rooms, and with one of Rachel’s music pupils who is being helped to a course in violin by Virginia Page.  She is from the people,” continued Felicia, using the words “from the people” so gravely and unconsciously that her hearer smiled, “and I am keeping house for her and at the same time beginning an experiment in pure food for the masses.  I am an expert and I have a plan I want you to admire and develop.  Will you, dear Bishop?”

“Indeed I will,” he replied.  The sight of Felicia and her remarkable vitality, enthusiasm and evident purpose almost bewildered him.

“Martha can help at the Settlement with her violin and I will help with my messes.  You see, I thought I would get settled first and work out something, and then come with some real thing to offer.  I’m able to earn my own living now.”

“You are?” the Bishop said a little incredulously.  “How?  Making those things?”

“Those things!” said Felicia with a show of indignation.  “I would have you know, sir, that ‘those things’ are the best-cooked, purest food products in this whole city.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he replied hastily, while his eyes twinkled, “Still, ’the proof of the pudding’—­you know the rest.”

“Come in and try some!” she exclaimed.  “You poor Bishop!  You look as if you hadn’t had a good meal for a month.”

She insisted on his entering the little front room where Martha, a wide-awake girl with short, curly hair, and an unmistakable air of music about her, was busy with practice.

“Go right on, Martha.  This is the Bishop.  You have heard me speak of him so often.  Sit down there and let me give you a taste of the fleshpots of Egypt, for I believe you have been actually fasting.”

So they had an improvised lunch, and the Bishop who, to tell the truth, had not taken time for weeks to enjoy his meals, feasted on the delight of his unexpected discovery and was able to express his astonishment and gratification at the quality of the cookery.

“I thought you would at least say it is as good as the meals you used to get at the Auditorium at the big banquets,” said Felicia slyly.

“As good as!  The Auditorium banquets were simply husks compared with this one, Felicia.  But you must come to the Settlement.  I want you to see what we are doing.  And I am simply astonished to find you here earning your living this way.  I begin to see what your plan is.  You can be of infinite help to us.  You don’t really mean that you will live here and help these people to know the value of good food?”

“Indeed I do,” she answered gravely.  “That is my gospel.  Shall I not follow it?”