Walky Dexter did what carting was needed. Janice and her aunt made the curtains themselves, and they put them up so as to keep out the prying eyes of all Poketown, for the community now began to wonder what was going on in the empty room next the drug store. As Walky had been bound to secrecy, too, the curious had no means of learning what was going on. It was just as though the printing office of a thriving town newspaper had burned down and there was no means of disseminating the news. This was the effect of the muzzle on Walky Dexter!
It was at this point that Janice took Marty, and through him, the other boys, into the scheme.
"What would you boys each pay in dues to keep up a nice reading-room such as we talked about, Marty?" she asked her cousin.
"Aw, say!" grunted Marty. "Let's talk about the treasure chest we've found in our back yard. That sounds more sensible."
"Wouldn't you be glad of such a place?" laughed Janice.
"Say! would a duck swim?" growled the boy, thinking that she was teasing him. "Bring on your old reading-room, and we'll show ye."
That very afternoon she and Miss 'Rill had given the last touches to the room. It was as neat as a pin; the lamps were all filled and the chimneys polished. It was only a bare room, it was true; but there were possibilities in it, Janice was sure, that would appeal to Marty. She put on her hat and held her coat out for him to help her into.
"I'm going down town with you to-night, Marty," she said, smiling. "I've got something to show you."
"Huh! What's it all about?"
"You come along and see," she told him. "It's just the finest thing that ever happened—and you'll say so, too, I know."