During Harry's absence, the little household at Granton had got along about as usual. They lived from hand to mouth. It required sharp financiering to provide food and clothes for the little family.
There was one neighbor who watched their progress sharply and this was Squire Green. It will be remembered that he had bound Mr. Walton to forfeit ten dollars, if, at the end of six months, he was not prepared to pay the forty dollars and interest which he had agreed to pay for the cow. It is a proof of the man's intense meanness that, though rich while his neighbor was poor, he was strongly in hopes that the latter would incur the forfeit and be compelled to pay it.
One morning Squire Green accosted Mr. Walton, the squire being at work in his own front yard.
"Good morning, neighbor Walton," he said.
"Good morning, squire."
"How is that cow a-doin'?"
"Pretty well."
"She's a good cow."
"Not so good as the one I lost."
"You're jokin' now, neighbor. It was my best cow. I wouldn't have sold her except to obleege."