“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