t to see them. She would lift her large
family of dolls, one after another, from cradle to bed and from bed
to tiny chair and sofa. She would parade up and down the walk, using
first one doll-carriage, then the other. She would even play a game
of croquet against herself. Occasionally she would call in a
condescending tone, "You may come in for awhile if you wish, little
children." And when the delighted little throng had scampered to her
side, she would show them all her toy treasures on condition that
they did not touch them.

When the proceedings reached this stage, Maida would be so angry
that she could look no longer. Very often, after Laura had sent the
children away, Maida would call them into the shop. She would let
them play all the rest of the afternoon with anything her stock
afforded.

On the right side of the court lived Arthur Duncan, the Misses
Allison and Rosie Brine. The more Maida saw of Arthur, the more she
disliked him. In fact, she hated to have him come into the shop. It
seemed to her that he went out of his way to be impolite to her,
that he looked at her with a decided expression of contempt in his
big dark eyes. But Rosie and Dicky seemed very fond of him. Billy
Potter had once told her that one good way of judging people was by
the friends they made. If that were true, she had to acknowledge
that there must be something fine about Arthur that she had not
discovered.

Maida guessed that the W.M.N.T.'s met three or four times a week.
Certainly there were very busy doings at Dicky's or at Arthur's
house every other day. What it was all about, Maida did not know.
But she fancied that it had much to do with Dicky's frequent
purchases of colored tissue paper.

The Misses Allison had become great friends with Granny. Matilda,
the blind sister, was very slender and sweet-faced. She sat all day
in the window, crocheting the beautiful, fleecy shawls by which she
helped support the household.

Jemima, the older, short, fat and with snapping black eyes, did the
housework, attended to the parrot and waited by inches on her
afflicted sister. Occasionally in the evening they would come to
call on Granny. Billy Potter was very nice to them both. He was
always telling the sisters the long amusing stories of his
adventures. Miss Matilda's gentle face used positively to beam at
these times, and Miss Jemima laughed so hard that, according to her
own story, his talk put her "in stitches."

Maida did not s