go with the season."

Maida thought of this a great deal after she went to bed at night.
By the end of the week, she could see in imagination just how her
windows were going to look.

Saturday night, Billy told her that everything was ready, that she
should see the completed house Monday morning. It seemed to Maida
that the Sunday coming in between was the longest day that she had
ever known.

When she unlocked the door to the shop, the next morning, she let
out a little squeal of joy. "Oh, I would never know it," she
declared. "How much bigger it looks, and lighter and prettier!"

Indeed, you would never have known the place yourself. The ceiling
had been whitened. The faded drab woodwork had been painted white.
The walls had been colored a beautiful soft yellow. Back of the
counter a series of shelves, glassed in by sliding doors, ran the
whole length of the wall and nearly to the ceiling. Behind the show
case stood a comfortable, cushioned swivel-chair.

"The stuff you've been buying, Petronilla," Billy said, pointing to
a big pile of boxes in the corner. "Now, while Granny and I are
putting some last touches to the rooms upstairs, you might be
arranging the window."

"That's just what I planned to do," Maida said, bubbling with
importance. "But you promise not to interrupt me till it's all
done."

"All right," Billy agreed, smiling peculiarly. He continued to smile
as he opened the boxes.

It did not occur to Maida to ask them what they were going to do
upstairs. It did not occur to her even to go up there. From time to
time, she heard Granny and Billy laughing. "One of Billy's jokes,"
she said to herself. Once she thought she heard the chirp of a bird,
but she would not leave her work to find out what it was.

When the twelve o'clock whistle blew, she called to Granny and to
Billy to come to see the results of her morning's labor.

"I say!" Billy emitted a long loud whistle.

"Oh, do you like it?" Maida asked anxiously.

"It's a grand piece of work, Petronilla," Billy said heartily.

The window certainly struck the key-note of the season. Tops of all
sizes and colors were arranged in pretty patterns in the middle.
Marbles of all kinds from the ten-for-a-cent "peeweezers" up to the
most beautiful, colored "agates" were displayed at the sides.
Jump-ropes of variegated colors with handles, brilliantly painted, were
festooned at the back. One of the window shelves had been furnished
like a tiny room.