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.  A whole family of dolls sat about on the tiny sofas and chairs.  On the other shelf lay neat piles of blank-books and paper-blocks, with files of pens, pencils, and rubbers arranged in a decorative pattern surrounding them all.

In the show case, fresh candies had been laid out carefully on saucers and platters of glass.  On the counter was a big, flowered bowl.

“To-morrow, I’m going to fill that bowl with asters,” Maida explained.

“OI’m sure the choild has done foine,” Granny Flynn said, “Oi cudn’t have done betther mesilf.”

“Now come and look at your rooms, Petronilla,” Billy begged, his eyes dancing.