Pardee’s dinners became an institution in Okoochee. Mrs. Pardee cooked. Maxine served. And not even the great new stucco palaces on the Edgecombe Road boasted finer silver, more exquisite napery. As for the food — old Clem Barstow himself, who had a chef and a butler and sent east for lobster and squabs weekly, came to Pardee’s when he wanted a real meal. From the first they charged one dollar and fifty cents for their dinners. Okoochee, made mellow by the steaming soup, the savoury meats, the bland sauces and rich dessert, paid it ungrudgingly. They served only eighteen — no more, though Okoochee could never understand why. On each dinner Mrs. Pardee made a minimum of seventy-five cents. Eighteen times seventy-five � naught and carry the four � naught � five � thirteen-fifty � seven times � well, ninety-five dollars or thereabouts