Glowing points of light showed that only a good draft was needed to make the whole mass of coal red-hot.

Billy, however, did not know this.

Her experience of fires was confined to burning wood in open grates--and wood in open grates had to be poked to make it red and glowing.

With confident alacrity now, therefore, Billy caught up the poker, thrust it into the mass of coals and gave them a fine stirring up.

Then she set back the lid of the stove and went to hunt up the ingredients for her dinner.
By the time Billy had searched five minutes and found no chicken, no oysters, and no halibut, it occurred to her that her larder was not, after all, an open market, and that one's provisions must be especially ordered to fit one's needs.