Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
"I'll not forget such a delightful engagement, be sure."
Uncle John had his pocketbook out, and now he wadded up some bills and
thrust them into the little school teacher's hand.
"Drive ahead, Louise," he called. "Good morning, my dear. See you on
Thursday."
As the vehicle rolled out of the yard and turned into the highway, Ethel
unrolled the bills with trembling fingers.
"If he has dared--!" she began, but paused abruptly with a smile of
content.
The rich man had given her exactly one hundred dollars.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS.
On Wednesday afternoon McNutt drove the sad-eyed sorrel mare over to the
Wegg farm again. He had been racking his brain for a way to get more
money out of the nabob, for the idea had become a veritable passion with
him and now occupied all his thoughts.
That very morning an inspiration had come to him. Among other
occupations he had at one time adopted that of a book-agent, and by dint
of persistent energy had sold numerous copies of "Radford's Lives of the
Saints" to the surrounding farmers. They had cost him ninety cents a
copy and he had sold them at three dollars each, netting a fine profit
in return for his labor. The books were printed upon cheap paper,
fearfully illustrated with blurred cuts, but the covers were bound in
bright red with gold lettering. Through misunderstandings three of these
copies had come back to him, the subscribers refusing to accept them;
and so thorough had been his canvassing that there remained no other
available customers for the saintly works. So Peggy had kept them on a
shelf in his "office" for several years, and now, when his eye chanced
to light upon them, he gave a snort of triumph and pounced upon them
eagerly. Mr. Merrick was a newcomer. Without doubt he could be induced
to buy a copy of Radford's Lives.
An hour later McNutt was on his mission, the three copies, which had
been carefully dusted, reclining on the buggy seat beside him. Arrived
at the Wegg farm, he drove up to the stile and alighted.
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The Golden Duck: The Story of Prince Raduz and the Faithful Ludmila
Category: Czechoslovak folktale
Read times: 16 -
-
The Twelve Months: The Story of Marushka and the Wicked Holena
Category: Czechoslovak folktale
Read times: 68
In a village there lived two men who had the self-same name. Both were named Claus. But one of them owned four horses, and the other owned only one horse; so to distinguish between them people called the man who had four horses Big Claus, and the man who had only one horse Little Claus. Now I'll tell you what happened to these two, for this is a true story.
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