Question

Rewrite the paragraph below, correcting the shifts in verb tense.
Mr. Firman invited his friend, Mr. Nulty, to come over and have dinner with him and Mrs. Stoner. The maid fixes a big dinner for the three of them, and when they were ready for dessert, she brings a cake out for Mr. Nulty because it was his fifty-ninth birthday. The candles were lit and the lights are turned out so that he could blow out the candles in the dark. Mrs. Stoner then begins to clear the table of the food and dishes.