"It is."
Assured on this point, Jesse went to the point without any preliminaries:
"You stole Mrs. Thomas Shaw's cow from her today, didn't you?"
"Stole her cow? No, sir! How dare you say such a thing?" thundered the infuriated man.
"Don't raise your voice—unless you want your neighbors to hear," retorted his interrogator, coolly. "You did steal it and you know you did! There was a mortgage on it but it wasn't due till day after tomorrow.
"I've come to take back that cow!"
Dropping his bombastic manner, Hiram Rosier whined:
"I got it in a business way. I had a chance to sell her. Mrs. Shaw couldn't pay the money even if it isn't due for three days. There's nothing wrong about the transaction. I can't afford to lose fifteen dollars and sixty cents when I—"
"Rubbish!" snapped Jesse. "Mrs. Shaw can pay the money. See, here's a twenty-dollar bill. But she won't—with my permission.
"How much did you get for the cow?"