"I wish to inquire," said he, after courteously saluting the couple, "whether you have any old coins in the house."
"No," was the surly response of the farmer, "we don't keep 'em."
"But you had quite a collection."
"I had 'leven dollars and seventy-five cents' worth, but I paid 'em out this mornin'."
"To a boy named Bushrod Wyckoff?"
"Yas."
"They were given to him unreservedly?—that is, you renounce all claim upon them?"
"What the blazes ar' you drivin' at?" demanded the angry farmer. "I owed him 'leven dollars and seventy-five cents for wages, and I paid him purcisely that amount, and have his receipt in full. I'd like to know what business it is of yours anyway."
Now came the professor's triumph.
"Young Wyckoff called at my office this afternoon, and I bought a number of the coins from him."