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"I should have found the cause the fat went bad There is always a cause

Greater trouble there maybe if we do not find it soon"

"What kind of trouble?"

"Today - throughfat a little only Tos for convention luncheons"

Peter whistled softly

"Just so" They had walked together from the office to stand beside the deep fryer fro fat were being cleaned

"The fat will be fresh toed previously?"

'Yesterday"

'That recently!"

Andre Le no joke when he co it is a mystery"

Peter said slowly, "I' to remember some bits of food chemistry

The sood fat is

"Four 'undred and twenty-five degrees It should never be heated more, or it will break down"

"And as fat deteriorates its smoke-point drops slowly",

"Very slowly - if all is well"

"Here you fry at "

"Three hundred and sixty degrees; the best temperature - for kitchens and the housewives too"

"So while the smoke-point remains about three hundred and sixty, the fat will do its job Below that, it ceases to"

"That is true,rancid, as today"

Facts, once memorized but rusty with disuse, stirred in Peter's brain At Cornell there had been a course in food chemistry for Hotel Administration students He re afternoon, the whiteness of frost onpanes He had co, wintry air outside Inside arents

"There are certain substances," Peter said reminiscently, "which, in contact with fat, will act as catalysts and break it down quite quickly"

"Yes, ers "They are the s in a fryer, too s I have checked This is not the cause"

A word had clicked in Peter's brain It connected hat he had observed, subconsciously, in watching the deep fryer being cleaned a moment earlier

"What metal are your fry baskets?"

"They are chrome" The tone was puzzled Chromium, as both men kneas harmless to fat

"I wonder," Peter said, "how good the plating job is If it isn't good, what's under the chrome and is it - in any places - worn?"

Lehtly Silently he lifted one of the baskets down and wiped it carefully with a cloth Moving under a light, they inspected the metal surface

The chro and constant use In small spots it had worn away entirely Beneath scratches and worn spots was a gleam of yellow

"It is brass!" The young Frenchman clapped a hand to his forehead "Without doubt it has caused the bad fat I have been a great fool"

"I don't see how you can bla before you caht cheap fry baskets

Unfortunately it's cost more in the end"

"But I should have discovered this - as you have done, monsieur" Andre Lemieux seemed close to tears "Instead, you, monsieur, you come to the kitchen - from your paperasserie - to telljoke"

"If it is," Peter said, "it will be because you talked about it yourself

No one will hear from me"

Andre Leood ent Now, myself, I know this is true"

Peter touched the folder in his hand "I'll read your report and tell you what I think"

"Thank you, monsieur And I shall deht they will be here if I have to hammer someone's head"

Peter smiled

"Monsieur, there is so"

"Yes?"

The young sous-chef hesitated "You will think it, how you say, presumptuous But you and I, Monsieur McDermott - with the hands free - we could make this a hot-shot hotel"

Though he laughed iht about all the way to his office on the main mezzanine