“For heaven’s sake, Miss McGill,” she called out in a cheerful voice—­“I’m glad to see you.  Got a lift, did you?”

She hadn’t really noticed the inscription on Parnassus, and thought it was a regular huckster’s wagon.

“Well, Mrs. Mason,” I said, “I’ve gone into the book business.  This is Mr. Mifflin.  I’ve bought out his stock.  We’ve come to sell you some books.”

She laughed.  “Go on, Helen,” she said, “you can’t kid me!  I bought a whole set of books last year from an agent—­’The World’s Great Funeral Orations’—­twenty volumes.  Sam and I ain’t read more’n the first volume yet.  It’s awful uneasy reading!”

Mifflin jumped down, and raised the side flap of the wagon.  Mrs. Mason came closer.  I was tickled to see how the little man perked up at the sight of a customer.  Evidently selling books was meat and drink to him.

“Madam,” he said, “‘Funeral Orations’ (bound in sackcloth, I suppose?) have their place, but Miss McGill and I have got some real books here to which I invite your attention.  Winter will be here soon, and you will need something more cheerful to beguile your evenings.  Very possibly you have growing children who would profit by a good book or two.  A book of fairy tales for the little girl I see on the porch?  Or stories of inventors for that boy who is about to break his neck jumping from the barn loft?  Or a book about road making for your husband?  Surely there is something here you need?  Miss McGill probably knows your tastes.”

That little red-bearded man was surely a born salesman.  How he guessed that Mr. Mason was the road commissioner in our township, goodness only knows.  Perhaps it was just a lucky shot.  By this time most of the family had gathered around the van, and I saw Mr. Mason coming from the barn with his twelve-year-old Billy.

“Sam,” shouted Mrs. Mason, “here’s Miss McGill turned book pedlar and got a preacher with her!”

“Hello, Miss McGill,” said Mr. Mason.  He is a big, slow-moving man of great gravity and solidity.  “Where’s Andrew?”

“Andrew’s coming home for roast pork and apple sauce,” I said, “and I’m going off to sell books for a living.  Mr. Mifflin here is teaching me how.  We’ve got a book on road mending that’s just what you need.”

I saw Mr. and Mrs. Mason exchange glances.  Evidently they thought me crazy.  I began to wonder whether we had made a mistake in calling on people I knew so well.  The situation was a trifle embarrassing.

Mr. Mifflin came to the rescue.

“Don’t be alarmed, sir,” he said to Mr. Mason.  “I haven’t kidnapped Miss McGill.” (As he is about half my size this was amusing.) “We are trying to increase her brother’s income by selling his books for him.  As a matter of fact, we have a wager with him that we can sell fifty copies of ‘Happiness and Hayseed’ before Hallowe’en.  Now I’m sure your sporting instinct will assist us by taking at least one copy.  Andrew McGill is probably the greatest author in this State, and every taxpayer ought to possess his books.  May I show you a copy?”