Mr. Folsom read the slip of paper, signed it, then handed it back so Mrs. James offered him the money. The moment he had the bill in his hand, he jumped from the running board and jeered:
“I hope I never meet such a Shylock again. We folks would have to go out of business if many women were as close as you!”
Mrs. James leaned out of the car and sweetly replied: “That is the greatest compliment ever paid me. I am considered to be such a soft-hearted being that my friends always have to warn me of being duped. Now I can hold up my head with the best of you traders.”
The girls laughed merrily as they started the car on its homeward journey, and Janet said: “Funny how we called Folsom a Shylock, and then he returned the compliment.”
CHAPTER IX
TELLS OF BEES AND BUGS
They had not gone more than half the distance to Green Hill Farm before Belle called their attention to a man who was hiving a swarm of honeybees.
“I wonder if bees are hard to keep?” said Belle.
“Not very, and they are the most interesting of all domestic farm-life,” returned Miss Mason.
“How do you know that?” asked Janet, eagerly.
“We watched a bee-farmer in the country, one summer, and the stories he told of his bees, and the intelligence they manifested, won my admiration of them. I’ve always wanted to try a few hives and see if I could make friends with them and raise a bee family.”