"Oh, yes, I have heard of you," replied the other. "Well, I guess you'll laugh when you hear my name."
"Why?" asked Mr. Brown. "Why should we laugh?"
"Because it's so different from what I am. You see, I am very short, do you not?"
"You are certainly not a very tall man," said Mr. Brown, with a smile.
"And yet I am," observed the other.
"You are what?"
"I am Vera Tallman," was the answer. "That really is my name, strange as it may sound," he went on, smiling at Mr. Brown, who was smiling at him. "Vera is the last name of my grandfather, and I am called after him. Tallman is my own last name, and I had to be called that though I am very short. It is quite a joke with my friends. I say to them I am a short Tallman or a short man who is Vera Tallman."
"Oh, I see!" laughed Mr. Brown. "Well, it's a good thing you can be so jolly about it."
"There is no good in finding fault with what can't be helped," said the man with a kind smile, as he patted the pony. "I can't make myself tall by wishing, even though I have a long name. So I let it go at that. And, when any one says to me, 'You are not very tall,' I answer, 'Oh, yes, I am Vera Tallman,' and then I have a joke on them."
"Yes, I should think you would," said Mr. Brown. "But let us get back to the broken harness. How much shall I pay you?"