inners and theatre parties, which
with her long day's work took every ounce of her strength and more.
Virginia had to get along these days the best she could. But was her
mother not building up a fortune for her future?

* * * * *

Of course they had their troubles from the very start. M. Paul's
Parisian morals, it was quickly found, could not be domesticated in a
Chicago home, and quarters had to be found for him outside the house.
Then the prettiest of the girls suddenly disappeared, much to Milly's
grief and anxiety. The men had been specially attentive to Lulu, and it
was found that she had taken a trip to the Pacific Coast with a young
broker. Then in the midst of their harvest the receipts began to fall
mysteriously, and Ernestine discovered an unauthorized trail from the
cash drawer to the large pocket of their _dame de comptoir_. Ernestine
resolutely handed her over to the police, which proved to be a very bad
move indeed, for no good French substitute could be found immediately
and her Nebraska successor spoke no French and twanged her English in
the good Omaha way. She gave the Cake Shop the air of a Childs'
Restaurant. Milly cabled her ally in Paris, Madame Catteau, for a new
Queen of the Counter, but she did not arrive until their first season
was drawing to a close.

There were other difficulties, new ones almost every day, but the two
partners met them all pluckily,--Ernestine with a determined look and a
heavy hand; Milly, with smiles and tactful suggestions. Ernestine
admired the wonderful way in which Milly managed "the French help,"
talking to them in their own language, flattering them, finding
companions and ways of forgetting their loneliness. And through their
troubles both were buoyed up by the stimulating sense of success and
prosperity. They were making money,--how much they did not know because
the business was complex and they hadn't time to figure it all out,--but
a good, deal they were sure. As the winter season came to a close there
was a lull naturally because many of their patrons left the city for
California and the south. It was a convenient breathing time in which
they could straighten out their affairs and plan the future campaign.
Trade revived at the end of May and held pretty well into July, then
dropped as the country season got into swing. Ernestine was for turning
the Cake Shop into a glorified ice-cream stand for the summer, but Milly
would not