wait, but did not wish to smoke. He was
interested in what he had heard of the stock of goods which was being
sold off about as fast as a glacier moves, and was glad to have the
opportunity to look about him.

"Do you know, Calthy," said Lanigan, "that you ought to sell Mr. Lodloe
a bill of goods?" He said this partly because of his own love of
teasing, but partly in earnest. To help Calthea sell off her stock was
an important feature of his project.

"Mr. Lodloe shall not buy a thing," said Calthea Rose. "If he is ever in
want of anything, and stops in here to see if I have it in stock, I
shall be glad to sell it to him if it is here, for I am still in
business; but I know very well that Mr. Lodloe came in now as an
acquaintance and not as a customer."

"Beg your pardons, both of you," cried Lanigan, springing to his feet,
and throwing the end of his cigar out of the window; "but I say, Calthy,
have you any of that fire-blaze calico with the rocket sparks that's
been on hand ever since I can remember?"

"Your memory is pretty short sometimes," said Calthea, "but I think I
know the goods you mean, and I have seven yards of it left. Why do you
ask about it?"

"I want to see it," said Lanigan. "There it is on that shelf; it's the
same-sized parcel that it used to be. Would you mind handing it down to
me?"

Lanigan unrolled the calico upon the counter, and gazed upon it with
delight. "Isn't that glorious!" he cried to Lodloe; "isn't that like a
town on fire! By George! Calthea, I will take the whole seven yards."

"Now, Lanigan," said Miss Calthea, "you know you haven't the least use
in the world for this calico."

"I know nothing of the sort," said Lanigan; "I have a use for it. I want
to make Mrs. Petter a present, and I have been thinking of a
fire-screen, and this is just the thing for it. I'll build the frame
myself, and I'll nail on this calico, front and back the same. It'll
want a piece of binding, or gimp, tacked around the edges. Have you any
binding, or gimp, Calthy, that would suit?"

Miss Calthea laughed. "You'd better wait until you are ready for it,"
she said, "and then come and see."

"Anyway, I want the calico," said he. "Please put it aside for me, and
I'll come in to-morrow and settle for it. And now it seems to me that if
we want any supper we had better be getting back to the inn."

"It's not a bad idea," said Miss Calthea Rose, when she was left to
herself; "but it shall not be in a cla