o the second great change in her life, a change
as important as that brought about by her memorable "visit" to South
Harniss.

She was a girl in years still, but tall for her age, and in thought and
manner almost a young woman. Her management of her uncles and Isaiah was
now complete. They no longer protested, even to each other, against the
management and, in fact, gloried in it. The cook and steward accepted
her orders concerning the daily marketing and he and she audited the
monthly bills. The white house by the shore was a different place
altogether now and "chicken-pox tablecloths" and tarnished silver were
things of the forgotten past. At the store she had become almost a
silent partner, and Hamilton and Company's "emporium" was, thanks to her
judgment and tact, if not yet an up-to-date establishment, at least a
shop where commodities to be sold were in places where they might be
seen by prospective purchasers and readily located by the proprietors.

She spent a good deal of her time, except in school hours, at the store
and much of the buying as well as the selling was done by her. The
drummers representing New York and Boston wholesale houses knew her and
cherished keen respect for her abilities as a selector and purchaser of
goods.

"Say," said one of these gentlemen, after a lengthy session during
which his attempts to work off several "stickers" had been frustrated by
Mary-'Gusta's common sense and discernment--"Say, that girl of yours is
a wonder, do you know it? She's the sharpest buyer I ever run across on
my trips down here. I don't take a back seat for anybody when it comes
to selling goods, and there's mighty little I can't sell; but I can't
bluff her. She knows what's what, you hear me!"

Shadrach, to whom this remark was made, chuckled. "You bet you!" he
declared, with enthusiasm. "Anybody that gets ahead of our Mary-'Gusta
has got to turn out afore the mornin' watch. She's smart. Zoeth and me
ain't aboard the same craft with her."

"I should say not. And you can't get gay with her, either. Most girls of
her age and as good a looker as she is don't object to a little ragging:
they're used to it and they like it--but not her. She isn't fishing for
boxes of candy or invitations to dances. That line of talk means good-by
and no sale where she is. Business and just business, that's all there
is to her. How long are you goin' to keep her here?"

"How long? Why, forever, I hope. What are you talkin' a