he said. "That was a bad time. We needin' the money so, and the
berry crop likely to be short of what we figgered. Them little old
barries at that last end of the patch began to ripen up fast; but I see
they wouldn't bring me no price at all--not if the shipper seed 'em.

"'Course, he was buyin' from a score o' farmers ev'ry day. My boxes
didn't have my name on 'em. They had his'n. He furnished the boxes and
crates himself.

"The devil tempted me," said Bob Buckham, solemnly, "and I fell for him.
'Course we had always to 'deacon' the boxes--we was expected to. The top
layer of berries had to be packed in careful, hulls down, so's to make a
pretty showin'.

"But I put a lot of them meachin' little berries at the bottom of each
box and covered 'em with big, harnsome fruit. They looked like the best
o' the crop. I knew my man would never question 'em. And it made a
difference of ten dollars to me on that one load.

"I done it," said the farmer, blowing a big sigh. "I done it with as
little compunction as I ever done anything in my whole endurin' life."

"Oh, Mr. Buckham! Didn't you think it was wicked?"

"If I did," he said, with a grin, "it didn't spile my appetite. Not
_then_. Not that day. I seen the carload shipped and never said a word.
I went home. I eat my dinner just as hearty as ever and made
preparations to work the next day's load the same way. Ye see, marm,
_she_ didn't know a thing about it.

"Wal!" continued the old man, "it come bed-time and we went to bed. I
was allus a sound sleeper. Minute my head touched the husk piller, that
minute I begun ter snore. I worked hard and I slept hard.

"But--funny thing--I didn't git to sleep. No reason--'parently. Wasn't
worried. I was kinder tickled at what I'd done, and the slick way I'd
done it. I never had cheated before to my knowledge; but I was happy at
the thought of that extry ten dollars, and the other extry money that
was ter foller."

"And--and didn't your conscience trouble you?" asked Agnes, wonderingly.

"Nope, not a mite. I was jest as quiet and contented as though they'd
left a conscience out o' me when I was built," and the old man chuckled
again, heartily.

"Marm says she believes more folks lay awake at night because of empty
stomachs than from guilty consciences, an' so she always has a plate of
crackers by her side o' the bed. Wal! I lay as calm as a spring mornin';
but after a while I gotter countin' sheep jumpin' through a gap in a
sto