The Price of a Cow

MRS. GEECH came in at the yard gate, panting from her long walk, for the midMay sun was shining hot along the road that went straggling about the slopes of Locust Ridge.

She was a short, stout woman of middle age, tanned by the sun and wind to a hickory-nut brown that matched her hair, and offered a singular contrast to her sky-blue eyes. But her eyes were matched by her blue-plaid homespun, made in a style she had followed all her grown-up life : very full and short in the skirt, very plain in the waist, — fastened up the front with horn buttons, white or black as chance might furnish, — and sleeves that fell short, indeed, of the present extravagance, yet afforded “ ample room and verge enough for a pair of well-developed arms. Mrs. Geech called this garb her “coat; ” she had another outfit for Sundays, which she dignified as “ dress : ” but whether she wore calico or black alpaca or blue homespun, she always had a voluminous look, as if she bought her material by the mile. “ Fullness is more savin’ than skimp,” was one of her favorite maxims ; to which she would add, by way of caution, “ Yet I ain’t never found it pay to overrun the molasses pitcher.”

Mrs. Geech was Paulina’s particular friend, and we knew that it was Paulina she came to see, chiefly, though she was too discreet to proclaim her favoritism in words ; however, all of us enjoyed the benefit of her visits, and we were glad, that hot May morning, when, lifting our eyes at the clang of the gate, we saw her enter.

She had a basket on her arm, covered with a piece of faded blue cloth like her dress, whereby we knew that there were eggs underneath. In response to our cry of welcome she sat down on the piazza steps with a prolonged grunt, and dusted her “ russet ” brogans with an elder bough plucked by the way as she crossed the creek.

“ Hot! ” she informed us succinctly, pushing back the big straw hat that shaded her round, sun-browned face. “ Mighty grassy weather.”

“ Let me fan you ! ” said Paulina, who was seventeen, and altogether irresistible.

The friendship between these two was six years old, dating from the first summer we had made our hot-weather refuge on Locust Ridge, when Paulina, being of an exploring turn of mind, had lost herself in the creek bottom, where she was discovered by Mrs. Geech. who brought her home at “ bat-flittin’,” to use Mrs. Geech’s term. The attachment formed on this foundation had suffered no abatement in the flight of time; so that this homely, awkward country-woman of forty-seven and our gay little beauty of seventeen understood each other like two schoolgirls, or like a pair of old cronies.

“ Well, you air a skimpy little lot! ” Mrs. Geech remarked, with undisguised admiration, looking up at Paulina, who sat on the step above her, “ pink and pretty,” plying the great turkey-tail, a gift from Mrs. Geech the previous summer.

“ Thought you did not approve of skimpy things, Mrs. Geech ? ” one of us reminded her.

“ H’m ! ” she replied. “ Depends how you take your measurements. A clovepink, now, ain’t much size, but it do possess the garden.”

There was a flavor about Mrs. Geech’s compliments that excited the envy and despair of Paulina’s other flatterers, and Paulina herself was not unappreciative.

“You shall have lemonade and cake for that, Mrs. Geech,” said she ; “ aunt Susan is jingling her keys now.

But aunt Susan had no intention of absenting herself from such good company, and she ordered what Mrs. Geech called the “ greedimixtries ” to be brought out on the piazza, that she might brew the lemonade in the presence of the guest.

“And now that you’ve caught your breath, Mrs. Geech.” said Paulina, rising and holding out her hands, “ you must leave these steps and take your choice of the chairs, and give us an account of yourself in comfort.”

“Well, well,” responded Mrs. Geech, as, with Paulina’s assistance, she scrambled up the steps, “ here I be, the same old plod-an’-go-round. I don’t never ketch the news till it’s two days old. or I ’d ’a’ been here afore now. ’T was Ariel Chinnie told me yistiddy, by dusk, how you all had come up fer the summer o’ Tuesd’y, an’ here it’s Saturday. The Chinnies have got a hawse an’ buggy toe git about in, but as fer me, it’s one foot up an’ t’other foot down ; yit fer all that, here I come ahead o’ Jane Chinnie, buggy or no buggy, hawse or no hawse,” and with a chuckle of satisfaction she sank into the chair Paulina dragged forward.

“ And we are so glad to see you ! ” Paulina declared, with enthusiasm.

“ But where ’s — where’s Mary ? ” inquired Mrs. Geech, taking a searching survey of the occupants of the piazza.

Mary was Paulina’s sister, eight years her senior.

“ My daughter Mary is not with us this summer ; she was married last month,” Mary’s mother made known, between a smile and a tear.

Mrs. Geech received this information with eyes of astonishment and a dropped jaw. “ You — don’t — tell ? ” she gasped. “An’ who on this green airth took the notion in his head toe marry Mary ? ”

Paulina, stifling a giggle, squeezed Mrs. Geech’s stout arm in gratitude for this delicious comment, which the next mail would certainly carry to the newly married ; meanwhile, Mrs. Geech was made acquainted with the name of Mary’s husband.

“Barrow?” she repeated, and shook her head. “ Never heard of his folks. But it is fer you-all toe jedge, an’ I’m trustin’ Mary have done well an’ won’t reap no cause fer repentance. Mind out fer that baskit. Paulina, child ! Shift it. up here beside of me, I ’ll thankee. They is aiggs, an’ aiggs is always business with me, exceptin’ as manners take the lead.”

“ And your manners never desert you, Mrs. Geech, as mine are so apt to do with me,” said Paulina, setting the basket at Mrs. Geech’s feet. “I’ve forgotten to ask about your garden. You ought to have a good show of vegetables by this time ? ”

“That’s all you know ’bout grass,” Mrs. Geech informed her, with grim emphasis. “I left it a-spreadin’ too rampageous and various fer my one hoe.” (It should be noted that “ grass,” in Mrs. Geech’s vocabulary, included all growths inimical to crops.) “ However.” she amended. “I c’n count on a squash or two o’ my own. an’ there ’s Jane Chinnie’s patch a-flourishin’. I shan’t suffer, with her fer a neighbor toe spy out my shortcomin’s.” and Mrs. Geech gave a toss of her head that did not comport with a thankful spirit.

“ A good neighbor is a great blessing,” Paulina’s gentle little mother made haste to declare, in her anxiety to foster peace and good will between the two dwellers beyond the creek.

“Oh, I ain’t disallowin’ Jane Chinnie’s title toe favor in her qualities,” said Mrs. Geech. with a dispassionate air. “A woman so well sot up in this world’s goods c’n spend an’ spare with both hands, no denyin’ ; but that ’s no reason, as I c’n see. why she should go about in that buggy o’ hern as if she counted on the State o’ Georgey to take note o’ the dust ahind her wheels ; nor she need n’t feed you with her corn to choke you with the cob, hey ? ”

“ No, she needn’t! ” Paulina agreed vigorously.

Paulina’s brothers accused that young lady of agreeing with Mrs. Geech solely for the fun of “ keeping the old woman going,” an impeachment Paulina always indignantly denied. Mrs. Geech, she insisted, was a deeply interesting personality to one who understood her, — and Paulina claimed to understand her better than any one else possibly could. When the rest of us called Mrs. Geech a “ screw,” and raged — behind her back — against the prices she demanded for her eggs and chickens, Paulina would have it that Mrs. Geech’s native liberality was in bondage to the inexorable limitations of circumstances ; and we, being in bondage to Paulina, emptied our purses into Mrs. Geech’s leather pouch, because Paulina was always reminding us that the owner of that pouch was “ a poor old solitary, with no joy in life except the memory of the boy — her only child—who died in his twelfth year.”

“ Some of these chances I mean to explain Mrs. Chinnie to herself,” Paulina announced, in a glow of indignation. It was a threat she had made often before, but never had found the courage to execute ; for Mrs. Chinnie, though one of the smallest of women, was a formidable creature.

Mrs. Geech’s fat shoulders shook with a soundless laugh. “ Spare yerself the trouble, child,” she counseled, as she received Paulina’s bountiful supply of cake and lemonade. “ Jane Chinnie would lay all yo’ ree-proach toe unripeness in jedgmint. An’ as fer me, I ain’t scornin’ her offerin’s, knowin’ it’s the refusal of her craps she squanders in the name o’ neighborly good will: a rotten-sided melon, say, an’ wormy peaches, an’ overaged beans, an’ stringy pertaters. When it comes toe givin’, never was sech a woman fer pore luck in plantin’; but let her sell, she’ll outbrag the whole kentryside fer success in the yield o’ this airth. whiles it’s all Ariel Chinnie’s strong right arm has gotten the vict’ry over the growth of the grass. I ain’t void o’ the grace o’ acceptance, but tell you what, ef ’t warn’t fer its bein’ Ariel’s hoe, I don’t believe I could stomick her produce. Toe save my soul, I ain’t able toe set Ariel in the same row with her. He ain’t her blood noways, bein’ her husband’s brother’s child an’ a orphint; but she raised him, an’ that’s enough fer Jane Chinnie toe brag on. Hear her tell it, never was sech another as Ariel; an’ I ain’t disallowin’ of his completeness, but this I say : he warn’t never a inch ahead of my Tony what the Lord took in the twelfth year of his age. Him an’ Tony was born the same day, was christened the selfsame Sabbath ; they climmed the same trees, an’ they swimmed the same creek ; an’ I have yet toe learn that ever Ariel was ahead o’ Tony. So it’s clear toe my mind that ef Tony had lived till now toe be nineteen years in age, ther’ ain’t nothin’ Ariel has ever mastered but Tony mought ’a’ evened up toe, fer all Jane Chinnie brags an’ brags how her raisin’ has made a world’s wonder out of Ariel.

“ Mind you, I ain’t discountin’ on ArielI’m a-wishin’ him well, ’long of him and Tony bein’ child’en together, of which Ariel have toted remembrance, a-hoein’ of my garden - patch times he could git Jane Chinnie’s word o’ cawnsint; for he is mighty supple toe his aunt Jane’s rule, Ariel is. He ’s got a job ’tendin’ the counter at the crossroads sto’, here lately, an’ Jonas Himes is a-wrastlin’ with the grass over toe Jane’s this spring. Since she’s been drivin’ that buggy an’ tradin’ over toe Spaulding, her heart is sot too see Ariel strike a rise in life. It’s all right, so Ariel don’t ketch a fall in his climb. I hear ther’ is playin’ of old sledge toe the cross-roads, an’ I know ther’ is drinkin’ ; yet I ain’t so lop-sided in jedgmint as Jane Chinnie, an’ I ain’t sayin’ but what ef Tony could a’ come out o’ temptations unscringed, Ariel mought the same. (No, I ‘m beholden toe ye, Paulina, — not another drap nor another crumb ; most plenteous have I fared.) Yet Jane Chinnie rises in her buggy-seat, when she passes my fence, an’ sniffs over at my craps what the grass is in possession, same as toe say, ‘ I’m got toe s’ply here! ’ Well, I ’m free toe cawnfess I ain’t no heft o’ plantin’ ; my gift is in chickens an’ pigs, an’ animils gin’rally. So now, Paulina, here’s four dozen of the freshest aiggs, tell yo’ maw.”

In this manner did Mrs. Geech invariably use Paulina as an interpreter of her bargains, — she was never known to appeal directly to Paulina’s “ maw ; ” and Paulina, communicating with that meekest of women by a glance that entreated, and insisted, and caressed, and prevailed, replied : “ Certainly we ’ll take them, Mrs. Geech ; and you shall have the very highest price for them.”

I know not by what cunning Paulina had possessed herself of her mother’s purse, but we beheld with mingled amusement and dismay that it was in her hands, and we gasped when she counted out two dollars and forty cents. “ You see,” she explained serenely, “ sixty cents a dozen is what we paid ” —

“ Paulina ! ” her mother could not refrain from remonstrating. “ That was at Christinas, and in town.”

“ I know, mamma dear ; but this is the country, and the Fourth of July is n’t so very far away.” Such was the logic whereby Paulina beguiled us.

But Mrs. Geech, for once, abated the price. “ Call it a even two dollars for the lot,” she said, “ an’ I ’m paid.”

Paid indeed! And eggs at twenty cents all along the country roads!

When Paulina returned from escorting her friend to the gate, she was assailed by a chorus of condemnation, and confronted by an array of argument that ought to have abashed and overwhelmed her ; but there was no such thing as convincing Paulina where Mrs. Geech was concerned.

“ Of course we should not think of paying such prices to every one,” she admitted ; “ but Mrs. Geech needs the money, and we could n’t give it to her outright; it would hurt her feelings. She always has such a hard time to get along ; and her cow died in the winter, so that she has to gave in order to buy another ; she told me about it at the gate. She has been selling wood off her land, and saved up some money, — about seventeen dollars. Jonas Himes will let her have a good cow for twentytwo, and perhaps he ’ll take the seventeen she already has, and trust her for the five dollars — if we go her security, don’t you think so. mamma ? ”

“ Oh, Paulina ! Paulina ! What monstrous prices we shall have to pay for chickens and eggs ! ”

” But it will be helping Mrs. Geech.” Paulina urged.

“ I suppose you won’t object, then, to going without that lilac lawn you wrote to Mary to buy ? ”

“ Why — why ” — stammered Paulina, in pretty dismay. “ I thought it was decided that the lilac lawn is — a necessity ? Oh, don’t let us be mean and stingy ; the dress is bought by this time, and Mrs. Geech must have her cow.”

Thus did Paulina the indomitable decide the two momentous questions of the dress and the cow. to suit herself and Mrs. Geech ; all further discussion was cut short by her brother Tom singing out : “ Here’s your chance, Polly, to explain Mrs. Chinnie to herself ! She ’s just hitching her baggy at the front gate. Catch her coming in at the back ! ”

Mrs. Chinnie was a very different personality — to use a favorite term of Paulina’s — from Mrs. Geech. She bore her small self with an air of importance, allowable, perhaps, in a woman who had managed her property well, and she paid much attention to dress. She wore, on this occasion, a dark flowered calico with a profusion of billowy ruffles, and sleeves that eclipsed Paulina’s, and almost eclipsed herself. But her bonnet! How Paulina coveted it for tableaux ! It was an ancient “ scoop,” very high in the crown that bristled with purple ribbon, and very broad and stiff in the brim, over which drooped a long black lace veil elaborately wrought in heavy embroidery. The small woman thus attired might have passed for a child masquerading in some great-grandmother’s old finery, but that her severe stateliness forbade the fancy.

She inquired, categorically and with impressive propriety, after each member of the family, approved of Mary’s marriage in terms that were past the gift of Mrs. Geech, and informed us that the weather was “progressive.” From the weather she passed to a variety of topics, but all the while we knew that she had come on business, and at last she named her errand: would we, as in summers past, buy our fruit and vegetables from her ?

We assured Mrs. Chinnie that we should be glad to have her supply us.

That’s all right, then,” said she, with stately satisfaction ; “ an’ I ’ll set all my plans accordin’. I ain’t namin’ of chickens an’ the like, though I mought, havin’ a sparin’ of plenty ; but them air Sister Geech’s trade, an’ ! would n’t on no account stand in her way, pore, unshifty body.”

“ Indeed, but you ’re mistaken,” spoke up Paulina, in defense of her friend. “ Considering that Mrs. Geech has to struggle along by herself, she does n’t do so badly, by any means.”

Mrs. Chinnie turned a pair of stern and glittering eyes upon the champion of Mrs. Geech. “ ’Pears toe me you ’ve growed a bit,’ said she, after a calm survey ; “ an’ you always was kind o’ perky, now, warn’t ye ? But there, you ’re yo’ maw’s youngest; and you know, ma’am,” turning to Paulina’s mother, “ it comes natchral toe spile the baby o’ the fam’ly. Hows ever, as I was a-sayin’ of Sister Geech, — sister in the church, ye know, — she air the most mismanagin’ ” —.

“ But, Mrs. Chinnie,” Paulina broke in warmly, “ perhaps if you had to manage all by yourself—it’s only fair — and kind — to make allowances — if her son had lived, now, poor Mrs. Geech ” — Paulina stammered and stammered, and grew red in the face ; for Mrs. Chinnie’s perforating eyes were defying her to ignore the fact that for thrift and management there was no comparison between Jane Chinnie and Nancy Geech.

“ There it is,” said Mrs. Chinnie piously, lifting her overpowering eyes to the ceiling. “Nancy Geech is for ever an’ ever supposin’ Tony had ’a’ lived. Well, ef he had ’a’ lived, who would ’a’ raised him but Nancy Geech ? Now, I ain’t one toe praise myself in open pride o’ speech, but it would n’t been Ariel Chinnie as Tony Geech would ’a’ patterned after. As ye sow, ye shall reap; an’ my husband’s nephew Ariel, what I took from the cradle, is in evidence for me. You won’t catch Ariel Chinnie in no misdoin’, thanks toe my raisin’ of him.”

Mrs. Chinnie directed these remarks to Paulina’s mother; for wherefore should a woman of years and dignity waste words upon such as Paulina?

But Paulina refused to be suppressed. “ I believe in Tony ! ” she declared. “ If he had lived, he would have been a help and comfort to his mother.”

A sense of her religious duty, it would seem, provoked Mrs. Chinnie to take notice of this assertion. “ You ’re railin’ ag’inst Providence, girl,” she admonished Paulina severely. “ But there, ma’am.” she added indulgently, nodding her head at Paulina’s mother, “ she ’ll know better when she ’s older. As fer Sister Geech, as I was sayin’, she air the most, mismanagin’, unbeforehanded body ever I see.”

“ For all that, she has saved money enough to buy a cow ! ” Paulina proclaimed triumphantly.

“ She ain’t boughten the cow ? ” Mrs. Chinnie demanded, with a gasp of incredulity.

“ No ; but she is going to,” Paulina informed her, in unshaken assurance.

“ No, she ain’t,” Mrs. Chinnie affirmed, with incisive certainty. “ See, ma’am,” still addressing Paulina’s mother, “ I ’ve lived neighbor to Nancy Geech, lo, these years an’ years, an’ I ’m knowin’ toe her ways. She ain’t the kind toe spend in the wisdom of a lump ; an ef she ’s saved up the price of a cow, she ’ll dribble out the money here an’ there, with nothin’ toe show fer it, an nobody will ever know how that cow’s price went. Mark my words, ma’am, there ’ll be no cow of Nancy Geech’s purchase.”

“ But you ’ll see,” Paulina insisted rashly. “ In less than a week, too.”

The week passed, however, without news from Mrs. Geech ; wherefore Paulina decreed that she must go to impure how her old friend had sped in her bargaining with Jonas Himes.

Aunt Susan accompanied Paulina in the pony phaeton, but it was Paulina who “ conducted ’ the interview.

They found Mrs. Geech seated on her doorstep, enjoying the afternoon sun, which was not yet quite ready to he extinguished behind the belt of trees bordering the creek.

“ Where ’s the cow ? ” Paulina inquired breathlessly.

Don’t ask me, child,” replied Mrs. Geech, with serene composure. “Jonas Himes knows, maybe ; I don’t.’ And she smiled.

“ Why— he refused, then The mean old fellow ! ” cried Paulina.

“ Now don’t you be so fly - up - thecreek,” Mrs. Geech rebuked her. “Jonas Himes ain’t in fault; he agreed, ready enough, toe seventeen dollars down, an’ trust me the five other dollars on yo’ maw’s security, as you said ; but — well, I’m off the bargain, ef the fact you must know.”

“ Oh, Mrs. Geech ! ” lamented Paulina, in despair and humiliation, remembering Mrs. Chinnie’s prediction. “ You — you have n’t lost the money ? ” she inquired, at a desperate conjecture.

“ No ; I don’t consider as I have — lost it.”

“ You have n’t been robbed ? ”

“ No ; my money’s safe enough, I ’ll allow.”

“ But — but — are n’t you going to buy the cow ? I thought ” —

“ Well, see, now,” Mrs. Geech interrupted, with some asperity, “ I ’ll up an’ own it squar’. I done with my proper money as it eased my heart. Why should n’t I ? S’posin’ I don’t git no cow ? I ain’t whinin’ fer milk. An’ the money was mine, warn’t it ?

“Yes, certainly,” Paulina admitted, much subdued. “ But — oh, I am so disappointed, Mrs. Geech.

“ Well, I ain’t! ” Mrs. Geech declared. “ Tell you, now, money air a fierce responsibility,” she proceeded, with tremulous earnestness ; “ an’, please God, I’ve handled mine ’cordin’ toe ray best lights. I passed it over toe Ariel Chinnie in the time of his need.”

She paused, as if inviting or defying comment, but neither Paulina nor aunt Susan had a word to say.

“ So I did ! ” Mrs. Geech proclaimed anew, resenting this silence as disapproval. “ I found him a-settin’ on the bridge, weighted with misery an’ a face like ashes. I hailed him was he sick ? An my heart jumped ontoe the truth like a duck ontoe a Juney-bug. He owned up, the pore, misguided young fool, he ’d been a-playin’ at cyards an lost money.”

“Then you should have let him bear his loss and learn a lesson, since he chose to risk ids money,” said the wise Paulina.

“ ’T warn’t his money,” Mrs. Geech informed her dryly, “or I mought ’a’ been o’ yo’ mind ; nor ’t warn’t his aunts, or I’d ’a’ told him toe own up. an’ git furgiveness ; but it was money he’d been c’lectin’ fer the sto’, — fifteen dollars, all gone at old sledge. An’ his aunt was gone over toe Spaulding, an’ would n’t be home till next day ; befo’ which time, ef the money warn’t paid in squar , Ariel were disgraced, an’ the woman what raised him put toe a open shame. Tell you, when I heard that, everythin’ went black befo’ me, and I caught on toe the bridge-rail; yet I heard Ariel a-sayin’ how he had n’t the sperrit toe own up his evil doin’s toe his aunt Jane, because ’t would rile her pride. Which feelin’s were a credit toe his heart, I say.”

As no one disputed the validity of this sentiment, in the pause that seemed purposely offered, Mrs. Geech resumed in a satisfied tone: “Well, I was a-travelin’ fer Jonas Himes, with the cow plumb in sight o’ my purchase; but what could I do with seventeen good dollars of my own in my hand, an’ me a-thinkin’ of my Tony at every turn o’ this life that Ariel Chinnie is called toe tread ? How could I tell but what the same temptation mought ’a’ overtook Tony ef he ’d lived toe nineteen year?”

“ Oh, Mrs. Geech, Mrs. Geech ! You did n’t give him all your money ? ” wailed Paulina.

“ All but two dollars ; fer why should I tempt the boy with extry cash ? ” Mrs. Geech explained sagely.

“ It’s all my fault,” lamented Paulina. “ I ought not to have told Mrs. Chinnie of your savings. Ariel Chinnie knew you had that money.”

“ Now, child, do take a little trust in people,” Mrs. Geech recommended gravely. “ Jane Chinnie warn’t likely toe tell Ariel nothin’ about my money; she ain’t believin’ enough in my management, and she ain’t desirin’ toe enlarge Ariel’s opinion o’ me noways. No, Ariel warn’t s’pieionin’ as I had any power to rascue him, fer he was too natchral astonished, plumb outen the breath o’ life, when I give him them dollars, and cautioned him to quit cyards an’ all sich evil, an’ start out on a straight path oncet more.”

“ And the cow ? the cow ? ” deplored Paulina.

“ Well, I c’n look for’ard toe the cow. Ariel, he ’ll pay, give him time.”

“ His aunt ought to pay, the minute she comes home,” Paulina declared fiercely.

“ No, no, child,” Mrs. Geech objected, with deep earnestness. “Jane Chinnie ain’t never toe know. Fer you see,” she explained, taking Paulina’s slim hand between her hardened palms, “ it’s been a rich blessin , savin’ the pore boy from disgrace; I don’t want it lessened with pullin’ down of her unspotted pride in him. It’s jest between Ariel an’ me, don’t you see ? ”

“ And she ’ll say — oh, don’t I know what she ’ll say ? ” cried Paulina. “ She ’ll say you — wasted that money, if ever you had it.”

“ Well,” replied Mrs. Geech, unmoved, “ I’m knowin’ how I did have it, an’ I’m knowin’ how I ain’t wasted it, so where’s the difference ?”

“ It’s a shame you should deprive yourself so ! ” cried Paulina. “ And I wish you had n’t done it, Mrs. Geech.”

“ Honey,” she sighed, her voice trembling and her eyes shining through a mist of tears, “you ain’t understandin’; but the thought I ’m always a-thinkin’ is, S’posin’ it had ’a’ been Tony ? An’ that’s how it is I’m puttin’ so much trust in Ariel. An’ I ain’t one bit oneasy but what I ’ll see my money back agin.”

Paulina came away in a rage; not with Mrs. Geech. “ To think — to think,” she choked, as aunt Susan gathered up the reins, “ how that uplifted Mrs. Chinnie will go trumpeting her triumph over my head, and Mrs. Geech has tied my tongue! Oh, is n’t she an angel, aunt Susan ? ”

“ Say, Pau—li—na ! ” Mrs. Geech shouted after the phaeton. “ Don’t forgit yo’ maw was promised toe take up them five dollars’ wuth in chickens and aiggs, an’ the price has riz.”

But aunt Susan indulged in no comment, her tongue being tied by Paulina’s beseeching eyes.

Elizabeth W. Bellamy.