And then a snicker followed the sneeze. And by that time Grandaddy Beaver and his friends guessed who was inside the building. It was Ferdinand Frog; and he had been watching his callers all the time, through the keyhole, and listening to everything that they said.
A few felt slightly uneasy, as they tried to remember exactly what remarks they had made about Mr. Frog himself.
"Come out!" they all cried, as soon as they had recovered from their surprise. "We want to see you!" And they formed a half-circle in the dooryard.
Presently the door swung out, as if somebody had pushed it open. And there, on the inside of the open door, which was flung back against the outside of the building, they all saw a sign, which said:
MR. FERDINAND FROG
UNFASHIONABLE TAILOR
ALL THE STYLES
FIVE YEARS AHEAD
OF THE TIMES
People began exclaiming that that was just like Ferdinand Frog—who was an odd fellow—to have his sign painted on the inside of his door instead of on the outside.
"It'll be all the style five years from now," he retorted.
So that was Mr. Frog's secret! He was a tailor himself! And there he was, ready to make clothes for all of them!
It was almost too good to be true. But there he stood in the doorway, with a tape around his neck, smiling and bowing.
"You'd better form in line!" he suggested. "You can come in through the front door. I'll measure you. And you can pass out the back way. . . . Don't crowd, please!"