The Little Shop-Window

• Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon, the elderly unmarried cousin of Judge Pyncheon, gets out of bed early one midsummer morning.
• Hepzibah is a recluse, which means she doesn't go out and socialize with other people at all.
• She's alone in the house except for a lodger, an artist who lives in a distant part of the house.
• This particular morning, Hepzibah looks as though she's preparing for some terrible task.
• She looks at a miniature portrait of a handsome young man with an emotional face.
• She puts away the portrait and continues with her preparations for the day.
• Hepzibah is setting up the long-forgotten shop to open again, for the first time in 100 years.
• The shop is going to sell soap, candles, toys, gingerbread – a pretty random assortment of stuff.
• She is completely awkward as she tries to decide where to place her goods.
• It's obvious that Hepzibah does not want to open this shop. But she truly feels that she has no choice – she doesn't know enough to teach children, and she's not strong enough to sew professionally.
• But she keeps approaching the opening of the store as though it's a crime.
• It's dawn and the town is waking up.
• She has to open the door and declare her shop open sooner or later.
• Reluctantly, Hepzibah opens the lock on the shop door and leaves it open for customers.
• This accomplished, she throws herself into a chair and starts to cry.