In the summers, when we went to the country, we usually hired a temporary cook to go with us, so that Margaret could stay in town. We hated to leave her, but the idea was that somebody must stay to 30 ______ care of the house.

But this didn’t work well. No matter how few the substitute’s faults were, Father had no patience with them. One summer, I remember, there was a nice woman Delia who got on well with Mother because she was so obliging and pleasant, but who didn’t 31 ______ Father at all. "I don’t give a damn how obliging she is," he 32 ______ to say. "If she won’t oblige me by cooking something fit to eat, she can go."

This didn’t sound unreasonable, but to 33 ______ the truth, Delia cooked well enough for the rest of us. Mother tried to 34 ______ no attention to Father’s grumbling. At breakfast Father would put down his coffee cup in disgust and roar: "Does she call this confounded mess coffee? Take it away!" And while Mother and Delia were frantically making a fresh pot, he would eat all of his omelet and bacon, and then declare that he was starved.

The longer Delia stayed with us, the more alarmed Father became. He ate heartily, but he said he didn’t feel nourished. At last Mother had to 35 ______ that it was impossible to go on like this. "This is Delia’s last night. I do hope you will like Tobo, they say, he is a very good cook."

The next night, Father found out, that the first dish was too Oriental and the meat underdone. So Mother sent for Margaret. She knew she could always depend 36 ______ Margaret.