Next morning after breakfast the doctor went off to his garden, and Marvin sat down on the porch to wait till something should bring her out there. In an hour she emerged, bearing a blue bowl and his bag of peas.
“I thought you had gone fishing.”
“No, I am waiting to buy your island.”
“To do what?”
“To buy your island.”
“What do you want it for?”
“I don’t exactly know.”
“Mr. Mahan, you are offering to buy something that you have no earthly use for. That is pity again. You have guessed that the Little Pine’s present was needed. But I don’t like to be pitied. In fact I won’t be pitied.”
“I’m not offering pity. I’m offering ten thousand.”
“What, for a thing that I pay just about two dollars a year in taxes on? The grammar isn’t very good, but it’s as good as the judgment you show.”