Belles on their Toes

the bell.
    "Why look who's here," Martha cooed. "Cousin Leora! What a lovely surprise. I do hope you'll stay for supper."
    Cousin Leora would stay, she said, providing she wouldn't be depriving the dear children of their food. Martha took her things, and by the time they entered the dining room the table was reset on a starched linen cloth.
    Mother had spoken that afternoon in Philadelphia, and still hadn't gotten home. But we were expecting her shortly, and Tom was keeping her dinner warm.
    Cousin Leora didn't seem displeased by Mother's absence. In fact, we thought we detected a gleam of satisfaction in her eyes.
    "Your dear Mother's hardly ever home any more, is she?" Cousin Leora began as Frank helped her into her chair.
    "She's here almost every day," Martha said. "She has her Motion Study Course right here in the house, you know. I think this is the first time she's been away in a month or more."
    "I see," our guest nodded, setting in motion a series of chins which broke like waves on the expansive beachhead of her bosom. But she pursed her lips and made it plain she didn't believe a word of it. "I'm afraid," Martha stumbled, "we're having hash again tonight. You always seem to have the bad luck of picking a hash night."
    "Hash seems good to me, after all that rich food we've been having," said Frank, trying to help out.
    "There, there, dears," Cousin Leora comforted us. "You don't have to make excuses to me. I'm practically one of the family. I know things have been difficult since your father passed away."
    "Not that difficult," Martha smiled, weakly, trying to remember that she mustn't act undisciplined. "We had roast pork last night, and meat loaf the night before that."
    "I'm sure you did, dear." Cousin Leora pursed her lips again.
    "If she's sure we did," Fred whispered to Dan, "why does she make an ugly face like that?"
    Cousin Leora had good ears, and she didn't miss much.
    "Gentlemen don't whisper at the table," she reproved Fred. "I said I was sure you did, and I was not aware that I made an ugly face."
    "I'm sorry," Fred apologized. "But we did. Ask anybody."
    Martha wanted to side with Fred, but even more she wanted to prevent Mother's being upset by any new telephone calls from California.
    "Whispering isn't polite, and Cousin Leora certainly wasn't making faces," she told Fred. "If you can't behave yourself, you'll have to leave the table and go without your supper."
    "Goodness, don't take the food away from the poor child," Cousin Leora protested, in a tone indicating our rations were so scanty that missing a meal might bring on pellagra. "Perhaps it would be better if we change the subject. What do you hear from your grandmother, dear?"
    "She's just fine," said Martha, welcoming the change and clinging to it tenaciously. "Yes, sir, just fine. Grosie is fit as a fiddle. She sure is."
    "I've known your grandmother ever since I was a little girl. She's a lovely person, isn't she?"
    "We certainly think so," Martha agreed. "We certainly do. They don't make them any sweeter than Grosie."
    "And quite well off financially, isn't she? I suppose she's very generous."
    "She sends us lovely presents," Martha nodded.
    "But I know she must be generous in other ways, too. Generous in making things easier for your «other."
    "She's certainly offered to make things easier," Martha nodded again.
    "I thought she must have," Cousin Leora smirked. "With two girls in college and this big household to run… I suppose your Mother has had to rely on her rather heavily, hasn't she?"
    "I guess you mean," Martha said as civilly as she could, "does Mother rely on her for money."
    "Of course, it's none of my business," Cousin Leora tittered nervously, "but your Mother is such a dear friend of mine."
    Fred leaned over when he thought no one was looking, and whispered something else to Dan, this time so quietly that no one heard.
    "I saw that," Cousin Leora snapped. "What was that you said, young man?"
    "Nothing, I guess," Fred mumbled.
    "I want to know what you said. Speak up!"
    "Do I have to tell her?" Fred asked Mart. "It's going to make her mad."
    "I guess you'd better tell her," Martha nodded sympathetically.
    "I said," Fred stuttered, looking at his plate, " you're such a good friend of Mother's, why don't you ask her?"
    Dan decided to give Fred what moral support he could. He made up his mind that since Cousin Leora was already convinced we didn't get enough to eat, he might as well give her something interesting to