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her thoughts so clearly that Kendra could not answer, but Ted saved her the need of it. As he set the box on the kitchen table he said,
    “I came over from Honolulu.”
    “Why did you come over?” asked Kendra. She was alert with curiosity.
    Ted shrugged. “No reason. I kept hearing about California, thought I’d take a look.”
    Scatterbrained, she thought. Doesn’t plan his life. Alex would never approve of him.
    Ted was gesturing toward the box. “Don’t you want to see what I’ve brought? Or maybe you’re one of those people who never know what they’re eating?”
    “I certainly am not!” she retorted. “I like food and I like to cook. Show me.”
    “I’m so glad you like to cook!” Ted exclaimed. “It’s no fun choosing food for people who don’t care.”
    “I’m going to cook our dinners,” said Kendra.
    In that moment she had made up her mind. She could not make a palace out of a shack but she could make a luscious meal out of any food not absolutely poisonous, and she was going to do it here. She was not going to eat the tasteless kind of stuff her mother had served today. Ted was saying,
    “As I suppose you’ve been told, food in California is mostly beef. So here’s the beef, but I found bacon too, and I think later we’ll have ham. And here are some relishes and seasonings.” He took out curry powder and ginger, mustard and cloves and nutmegs, olives and raisins and dried apples. “It’s early for most vegetables, but I did find onions and turnips.”
    “I’ll make a beef stew with onions,” said Kendra. “The next day we’ll have a curry.”
    “I’m glad you like curry. This came from China on the Eagle .”
    “And I’m glad to have these dried apples,” she said. “I’ll make a pie.
    “May I give you a hint?” asked Ted. He took up the box of raisins. “Soak a few raisins overnight in wine and add them to the pie filling.”
    “What a good idea! Who told you that?”
    “Oh, a woman I used to know,” Ted answered, and quickly changed the subject. “Did the army boys tell you about the dance they’re planning?”
    Kendra nodded, wondering about that woman he used to know. But he seemed already to have put her out of his mind. Standing with the table behind him, his hands resting on the edge, he asked,
    “Dance with me?”
    Kendra promised, hoping she did not sound too eager. Ted said,
    “I’m invited because I was recommended by Mr. Chase, who’s a leading citizen.” His forehead wrinkled humorously as he spoke. On impulse Kendra began,
    “Tell me—” She stopped, and he prompted her,
    “Yes?”
    “Why are you an errand boy?”
    A grin creased his lean cheeks. “Because,” he answered, “I’m too bone-lazy to be anything better.”
    As he said it, this seemed the most logical and amusing reason in the world. They both laughed, and Ted said,
    “I like your name—Kendra. Where did you get it?”
    “My father gave it to me. He liked unusual names. They say ‘Kendra’ is based on an old word that means ‘knowledge.’”
    “Of course!” he exclaimed. “I know the word— ken. ” He nodded reflectively. “And exactly right, too. That’s how it was when I saw you.
    Puzzled, she repeated, “When you saw me?”
    Again, as when he had stood in the doorway, Ted’s eyes swept over her. Again, it was a moment that made her feel as if she had just been discovered. He quoted,
    “‘Then felt I like some watcher of the skies,
    When a new planet swims into his ken…’”
    Her breath caught in her throat. Again, she did not know how to answer, and again he saved her the trouble. He said,
    “What an expressive face you have.”
    Kendra put up her hand and felt it. “Do you really like my face?”
    “Oh very much. Those black-lashed blue eyes, the way your hair grows, everything. Do you look like your mother?”
    “No, like my father. They say I’m like him in many ways. I don’t remember him.”
    “I think you missed a great deal,” Ted said