“But what do you want nails for?” Maida asked in bewilderment.

“Why, nails are junk.”

“And what’s junk?”

The three children stared at her.  “Don’t you know what junk is, Maida?” Rosie asked in despair.

“No.”

“Junk’s old iron,” Dicky explained.  “And you sell it to the junkman.  Once we made forty cents out of one of these fairs.  One reason we’re beginning so early this year, I’ve got something very particular I want to buy my mother for a Christmas present.  Can you keep a secret, Maida?”

Maida nodded.

“Well, it’s a fur collar for her neck.  They have them down in a store on Main street every winter—­two dollars and ninetyeight cents.  It seems an awful lot but I’ve got over a dollar saved up.  And I guess I can do it if I work hard.”

“How much have you made ordinarily?” Maida asked thoughtfully.

“Once we made forty cents a-piece but that’s the most.”

“I tell you what you do,” Maida burst out impetuously after a moment of silence in which she considered this statement.  “When the time comes for you to hold your fair, I’ll lend you my shop for a day.  I’ll take all the things out of the window and I’ll clean all the shelves off and you boys can put your things there.  I’ll clear out the showcases for Rosie’s candy.  Won’t that be lovely?” She smiled happily.

“It would be grand business for us,” Dicky said soberly, “but somehow it doesn’t seem quite fair to you.”

“Oh, please don’t think of that,” Maida said.  “I’d just love to do it.  And you must teach me how to make things so that I can help you.  You will take the shop, Dicky?” she pleaded.  “And you, Rosie?  And Arthur?” She looked from one to the other with all her heart in her eyes.

But nobody spoke for a moment.  “It seems somehow as if we oughtn’t to,” Dicky said awkwardly at last.

Maida’s lip trembled.  At first she could not understand.  Here she was aching to do a kindness to these three friends of hers.  And they, for some unknown reason, would not permit it.  It was not that they disliked her, she knew.  What was it?  She tried to put herself in their place.  Suddenly it came to her what the difficulty was.  They did not want to be so much in her debt.  How could she prevent that?  She must let them do something for her that would lessen that debt.  But what?  She thought very hard.  In a flash it came to her—­a plan by which she could make it all right.

“You see,” she began eagerly, “I wanted to ask you three to help me in something, but I can’t do it unless you let me help you.  Listen—­the next holiday is Halloween.  I want to decorate my shop with a lot of real jack-o’-lanterns cut from pumpkins.  It will be hard work and a lot of it and I was hoping that perhaps you’d help me with this.”

The three faces lighted up.

“Of course we will,” Dicky said heartily.

“Gee, I bet Dicky and I could make some great lanterns,” Arthur said reflectively.