George Weston

“ And any one passing through that basement door in the evening might have been edified by the sight of a blue-eyed youth making clumsy entries in a very small ledger and inking himself to the roots of his hair. Whether or not little Miss Mercer was so edified, however, is another matter altogether, for when she appeared before Mr. Willets that evening, with Snootzy under her arm and Dotty's cage in her hand, she was hardly in the frame of mind to make any detailed observations. ”

“ Mr. Willets sighed over his little ledger with force enough to blow it nearly off the counter, and Miss Mercer even went so far as to leave Dotty without any water in his cup for two whole days. But one night when the wind was blowing gently against the shutter, the little milliner had a famous idea. "If the bricks blow down again," he had said to her, "all you have to do is to let me know." She stared at the stars steadily for five minutes. Then, picking up a tack-hammer and a pair of scissors, she went up on the roof and began picking and scratching at the mortar between the chimney bricks. ”

“ Instead of the scene of wrack and ruin which little Miss Mercer had expected, the prospect was most irritatingly peaceful. The wind had gone away as unexpectedly as it had come, and the moon was grandly rising in the east.
"I feel like a fool!" she thought, following Mr. Willets to the chimney, and aloud she added, "I was sure the chimney had blown down."
"It was the top bricks," he reported. "They're scattered all over the roof. No wonder they nearly scared you to death." ”