A girl, intense-eyed and quick-witted, stood behind the miscellaneous assortment of merchandise on the counter of her father's general store. She sold tobacco along with the dry goods and groceries, but she fairly hated the stuff. One day a knot of the small town loafers took their purchased tobacco and their pipes and sauntered over to the stove to smoke and gossip while they tipped back their chairs and stuck their feet up.