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- Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
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Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
"Well, let 'em go," he muttered. "This thing ain't ended yit."
CHAPTER XIII.
BOB WEST, HARDWARE DEALER.
A few steps down the little street brought the girls to the hardware
store, quite the most imposing building in town. They crossed the broad
platform on which stood samples of heavy farm machinery and entered a
well-stocked room where many articles of hardware and house furnishings
were neatly and systematically arranged.
The place seemed deserted, for at that time of day no country people
were at Millville; but on passing down the aisle the visitor approached
a little office built at the rear of the store. Behind the desk Bob West
sat upon his high stool, gravely regarding his unusual customers over
the rims of his spectacles.
"Good morning," said Louise, taking the lead. "Have you a stew pan?"
The merchant left the office and silently walked behind the counter.
"Large or small, miss?" he then asked.
The girls became interested in stew pans, which they were scarcely able
to recognize by their official name. Mr. West offered no comment as they
made their selection.
"Can you send this to the Wegg farm?" asked Louise, opening her purse to
make payment.
West smiled.
"I have no means of delivering goods," said he; "but if you can wait a
day or two I may catch some farmer going that way who will consent
to take it."
"Oh. Didn't Captain Wegg purchase his supplies in the village?" asked
the girl.
"Some of them. But it is our custom here to take goods that we purchase
home with us. As yet Millville is scarcely large enough to require a
delivery wagon."
The nieces laughed pleasantly, and Beth said:
"Are you an old inhabitant, Mr. West?"
"I have been here thirty-five years."
"Then you knew Captain Wegg?" Louise ventured.
"Very well."
The answer was so frank and free from embarrassment that his questioner
hesitated. Here was a man distinctly superior to the others they had
interviewed, a man of keen intellect and worldly knowledge, who would be
instantly on his guard if he suspected they were cross-examining him.
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There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
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