Mrs. James returned his salute of “How-dy?” and then said: “We came to see about the cow you have advertised for sale.”
“Are you lookin’ fer someone else, er for yourself, Lady?” queried the man.
“What difference would that make?” countered Mrs. James.
“Wall, sometimes, folks just ask prices and then go tell their real buyers who come along and offer half the price.”
“Oh, do you have two prices, then?” asked Miss Mason.
“Not when you buy for yourself. When you shop fer friends I ask more,” was the man’s reply.
The girls thought this was very funny so they laughed, but the elder women frowned with disapproval. Still they waited to hear the price of the cow.
“Ef you are interested, just step this way and I will show you the critter. She’s out at pastoor, just now,” said the man.
They all got out of the car and followed the farmer down a narrow lane that ran to the lot at the further end of the farm. As they went, Mrs. James warned them wisely: “I think we have a Shylock to deal with, girls, so don’t you dare show any admiration or interest in his cows, or he will ask double the price. Leave the whole matter to me and I will bargain with him if we want the animal.”
“Jimmy, I fear you are a Shylock yourself since we came to take up farm life,” laughed Natalie.