"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.