“Now, best of joke. Betsy terrible balker. Old Grim gonna have holes dug all over three hundred acres.”
Pav let loose the full peals of his laughter and Ase was obliged to laugh silently with him. Pav sobered.
“Greedy man biggest fool in world,” he said.
Ase longed to pass on the story to Nellie. Her humor ran to practical joking, and certainly no joke could be more practical than this one. Yet he was bound to respect Pav’s confidence and should do so. The two men turned back to the barns. Pav watched idly and talked of other trades during the past year, rather more honorable but equally shrewd. Ase did his chores and started to the house for the milk buckets.
He said, “When I’m done, I’ll bring you a few things for supper.”
Pav said, “You eat with us tonight. We go tomorrow. So long
