She made no comment on what she saw at the store, but for the remainder
of the forenoon she was very busy. In spite of the partners' protests,
in fact paying no more attention to those perturbed men of business than
if they were flies to be brushed aside when bothersome, she went ahead,
arranging, rearranging, dusting, writing price tickets, lettering
placards, doing all sorts of things, and waiting on customers in the
intervals. At noon, when she and her Uncle Zoeth left for home and
dinner, she announced herself in a measure satisfied. "Of course there
is a great deal to do yet," she said, "but the stock looks a little more
as if it were meant to sell and less as if it were heaped up ready to be
carted off and buried."

That afternoon the store of Hamilton and Company was visited by a goodly
number of South Harniss residents. That evening there were more. The
news that Mary-'Gusta Lathrop was at home and was "tendin' store" for
her uncles spread and was much discussed. The majority of those who came
did so not because they contemplated purchasing extensively, but because
they wished to see what effect the fashionable finishing school had had
upon the girl. The general opinion seemed to be that it "hadn't changed
her a mite." This result, however, was considered a desirable one by the
majority, but was by some criticized. Among the critics was Mrs. Rebecca
Mullet, whose daughter Irene also was away at school undergoing the
finishing process.

"Well!" declared Mrs. Mullet, with decision, as she and her husband
emerged from the store together. "Well! If THAT'S a sample of what
the school she goes to does for them that spend their money on it, I'm
mighty glad we didn't send our Rena there, ain't you, Christopher?"

Mr. Chris Mullet, who had received that very week a bill for his