g 's I
don't pay over no money, at cetery,' I says.

"'No,' he says, shakin' his head in a sort o' mournful way, 'I'm glad to
see ye, an' I'm sorry you've took all that trouble fer nuthin', but my
conscience won't allow me,' he says, 'to do no bus'nis on Sunday.'

"'Wa'al,' I says, 'I don't ask no man to go agin his conscience, but it
wouldn't be no very glarin' transgression on your part, would it, if I
was to go up to the barn all alone by myself an' look at the hoss?' I
c'd see," continued Mr. Harum, "that his face kind o' brightened up at
that, but he took his time to answer. 'Wa'al,' he says fin'ly, 'I don't
want to lay down no law fer _you_, an' if _you_ don't see no harm in't,
I guess the' ain't nuthin' to prevent ye.' So I got down an' started fer
the barn, an'--he, he, he!--when I'd got about a rod he hollered after
me, 'He's in the end stall,' he says.

"Wa'al," the narrator proceeded, "I looked the critter over an' made up
my mind about what he was wuth to me, an' went back an' got in, an'
drove into the yard, an' turned 'round, an' drew up agin 'longside the
stoop. 'Lizer looked up at me in an askin' kind of a way, but he didn't
say anythin'.

"'I s'pose,' I says, 'that you wouldn't want me to say anythin' more to
ye, an' I may 's well jog along back.'

"'Wa'al,' he says, 'I can't very well help hearin' ye, kin I, if you got
anythin' to say?'

"'Wa'al,' I says, 'the hoss ain't exac'ly what I expected to find, nor
jest what I'm lookin' fer; but I don't say I wouldn't 'a' made a deal
with ye if the price had ben right, an' it hadn't ben Sunday.' I
reckon," said David with a wink at John, "that that there foot o' his'n
must 'a' give him an extry twinge the way he wriggled in his chair; but
I couldn't break his lockjaw yit. So I gathered up the lines an' took
out the whip, an' made all the motions to go, an' then I kind o' stopped
an' says, 'I don't want you to go agin your princ'ples nor the law an'
gosp'l on my account, but the' can't be no harm in s'posin' a case, can
the'?' No, he allowed that s'posin' wa'n't jest the same as doin'.
'Wa'al,' says I, 'now s'posin' I'd come up here yestidy as I have
to-day, an' looked your hoss over, an' said to you, "What price do you
put on him?" what do you s'pose you'd 'a' said?'

"'Wa'al,' he said, 'puttin' it that way, I s'pose I'd 'a' said
one-seventy.'

"'Yes,' I says, 'an' then agin, if I'd said that he wa'n't wuth that
money to me, not bein' jest what I wan