“Well, you needn’t count on it,” replied Christopher practically. “There are lots of trained Shetland ponies in the world beside Punch and Judy, and we don’t know if Letty is with the circus that have Punch and Judy, anyway. She may be jumping and tumbling again, like she was doing the first time we saw her.”
The village reached at length, Joshua bundled the twins out unceremoniously in front of the chief provision shop and bade them wait there for his return. Christopher was disappointed. He had hoped for the treat of watching the blacksmith at work. But Joshua had given him plainly to understand from the first that this expedition was one of business and not of pleasure, and he dared not complain.
The provision man was new in the village and did not know the twins. He did not think such small children worth much attention and went on arranging his baskets.
“Please, sir, how much are apples?” asked Christopher politely.
The man turned around, surprised by such a practical question and answered:
“Forty cents a basket.”
“Oh,” cried Jane and Christopher together, “that’s too much!”
“It’s the market price,” said the man crossly.
“Oh, sir, we mean it’s too much for us to pay,” explained Jane hurriedly.
“I dare say it is,” replied the man coolly and turned away to wait on another customer.