, an' says, 'You put me in
ruther an embarrassin' position, Mr. Harum. My daughter has set her
heart on the hoss, an'--he-uh-uh-uh!'--with a kind of a smile like a
wrinkle in a boot, 'I can't very well tell her that I wouldn't buy him
because you wouldn't accept a higher offer than your own price. I--I
think I must accede to your proposition, an'--he-uh-uh--accept the
favor,' he says, draggin' the words out by the roots.

"'No favor at all,' I says, 'not a bit on't, not a bit on't. It was the
cleanest an' slickist deal I ever had,' I says, 'an' I've had a good
many. That girl o' your'n,' I says, 'if you don't mind my sayin' it,
comes as near bein' a full team an' a cross dog under the wagin as you
c'n git; an' you c'n tell her if you think fit,' I says, 'that if she
ever wants anythin' more out o' _my_ barn I'll throw off twenty-four
dollars ev'ry time, if she'll only do her own buyin'.'

"Wa'al," said Mr. Harum, "I didn't know but what he'd gag a little at
that, but he didn't seem to, an' when he went off after givin' me his
check, he put out his hand an' shook hands, a thing he never done
before."

"That was really very amusing," was John's comment.

"'T wa'n't a bad day's work either," observed Mr. Harum. "I've sold the
crowd a good many hosses since then, an' I've laughed a thousan' times
over that pertic'ler trade. Me 'n Miss Claricy," he added, "has alwus
ben good friends sence that time--an' she 'n Polly are reg'lar neetups.
She never sees me in the street but what it's 'How dee do, Mr. H-a-rum?'
An' I'll say, 'Ain't that ole hoss wore out yet?' or, 'When you comin'
'round to run off with another hoss?' I'll say."

At this point David got out of his chair, yawned, and walked over to the
window.

"Did you ever in all your born days," he said, "see such dum'd weather?
Jest look out there--no sleighin', no wheelin', an' a barn full wantin'
exercise. Wa'al, I guess I'll be moseyin' along." And out he went.

CHAPTER XXX.

If John Lenox had kept a diary for the first year of his life in
Homeville most of its pages would have been blank.

The daily routine of the office (he had no assistant but the callow
Hopkins) was more exacting than laborious, but it kept him confined
seven hours in the twenty-four. Still, there was time in the lengthened
days as the year advanced for walking, rowing, and riding or driving
about the picturesque country which surrounds Homeville. He and Mr.
Harum often drove togeth