The Eternal Feminine (Novel) by Carolyn Wells

"Oh, am I late? I'm so sorry! My dear Miss Cooke, have I kept your class waiting? Now don't look at me like that! Cheery and blithe, please. And Milly,-just wait a minute till I fold up this veil; they get so rubbishy if you don't,-truly, I started early enough, but, you see, I met Roddy Dow, and-we took a walk around the block,-it's such a sunny, shiny, country kind of a day, we just had to. Of course, I told him I was in a hurry to get to class, and I babbled on about all the whipped angel food and eggless omelets we're going to learn to make, and he said,-girls, what do you think he said? He said I was fluffy-minded! Me! the greatest living example of a young woman with earnest aims and high ideals! Well,-so I said-yes, yes, Miss Cooke, I am folding it up as fast as I can,-I'll be ready in a minute,-don't make that foolish noise, pretty lady. Shall I sit here by Flossy Fay? Oh, what winsome looking creatures! Live crabs? Are they?

And we're to learn to make "Crab Flakes à la Pittsburg? " Oh, how perfectly gorgeous! Do you know, Flossy, I met that Pittsburg man last night,-that Mr. Van Roxie. Yes, the one with one lung and thirty millions. He's too ducky for words! He didn't approve of me at first,-I sat next to him at dinner, you know,-because I asked him whether he'd rather talk politics or have a lover's quarrel. He looked at me sort of gimletty,-if you know what I mean,-and he said I was a Pink and White Mistake! Me! the Only Original Magazine-Cover Girl! Well-so I said,-yes, Miss Cooke, I'm listening. Certainly I know what you said; you said,-well, you said something about eggs. No, I don't recall exactly what,-to me, there's always an air of mystery about eggs, anyway. And, besides, most all the recipes are eggless, nowadays,-it's the latest fad. Oh, cream the yolks? Now, isn't that funny? My new mauve messaline has a cream yoke,-that heavy lace, you know,-I think they call it,-My heavens and earth!