s, and Ernestine must
organize an efficient delivery system, in which she was at home. Milly
spent her days at the shop, where it became the fashion for men as well
as women to drop in late in the afternoon, to eat a cake or six and chat
with one's friends, to sip an anisette or grenadine, and maybe carry
away a bagful of cakes for the little ones at home or to eke out Mary's
thick-crusted New England pie.

So it was a Success! Milly and Ernestine worked like willing
galley-slaves, getting things to run smoothly, fitting into all the
corners that their excitable French assistants created daily. Milly was
one broad beam these days, and went happily to bed so tired that she was
asleep before she touched her pillow. Even Ernestine's heavy brows
relaxed their tension, for the "queer" business seemed to be making good
beyond her expectations. Milly had been right. They charged outrageous
prices for their delicacies, which scandalized Ernestine, who could not
believe that people would be foolish enough to pay twice and three times
what things were worth. But Milly insisted. "The people we are after,"
she said, "like it all the better the more they have to pay." And to
Ernestine's astonishment she seemed to be right again, for the present.
That, Ernestine concluded, must be another freak of this "rich trade";
the "swells" expected to be done and would be disdainful if they
weren't. Ernestine had a good deal of contempt for their patrons. But
the glowing proof of their business success lay in the cash drawer,
which literally overflowed with money, and they had accounts with half
the families in Chicago who pretended to be "in society."

Business men began to compliment Milly upon her shrewdness and predicted
a marvellous growth for the business. One broker seriously suggested
incorporating the Cake Shop, as certain candy manufacturers had
incorporated, and offered to boom the stock on the local exchange, Milly
talked of opening a summer branch in Newport or Bar Harbor, she could
not decide which. But she was a little timid about the east. She felt
that she had been right in starting in Chicago. The west was less
accustomed to Paris and had a lustier appetite for cake than New York,
and the charm of their Gallic interior was more of a novelty beside Lake
Michigan than it would be on Fifth Avenue. A branch in St. Louis or
Omaha might pay: her mind was nimble with schemes.... She was also going
out more or less all the time, to d