"No, I hain't!" snapped back Miss Grath. "An' ef you an't stealin' that strap, I'd like to know what you're doin', takin' it outen the barn, before it's sold?"
"Gosh! Ye don't mean you're goin' to sell this strap?"
"An' why not, I'd like to know? It's mine, an' I kin sell it, I spose, 'thout gittin' your permission?"
"Why, sartin! But 'tain't wuth nothin'."
"Ef 'tain't wuth nothin', I'd have you tell me what you're takin' it for?"
"Well, you see,"—Mr. Hubbard was embarrassed by the question—"it's this way. A bit o' my harness is a leetle weak, and I thought this'd come handy to brace it up till I get to hum."
"Jes' so," answered Miss Grath, with gratification, "an' as 't would come handy, you jes' took it, French leave. Well! Ef you stay till the end o' the auction, mebbe you'll git a chance to buy it. Meanwhile, Mr. Hubbard, it might be 's well to keep your hands offen what don't belong to you."
Mr. Hubbard threw the old piece of strap back in the stall, and pushing his hands deep into his pockets, snarled out:
"I reckon I'll put my hands in my pockets, where my money is, an' keep 'em there too!" With which he strode away, a very angry man. He stayed to the end of the auction, but Miss Grath noticed with regret that he did not bid on anything all day, and she wondered if she had not "put her foot in it," which she undoubtedly had. But there are many, many people, in this curious little world, who hold a penny so close to their eyes that they lose sight of many dollars that might come their way were they not blinded by the love of small gains. Mr. Hubbard, too, was troubled as he rode home, that night; for, aside from the fact that he had been accused, of stealing, and that the stolen property had been "found on him," because of his determination not to let "the old hag" get any of his money he had lost several good opportunities to secure tempting "bargains"; and there is nothing that a true New Englander loves so much as a bargain.
At last there was a commotion in the crowd. Some one had recognized the auctioneer's team approaching, and presently he jumped out of his light wagon, greeting the men and women alike, by their first names, for there were few who did not know Mr. Potter, and there was none whom Mr. Potter did not know.