understand it at all. So she inquired what it meant.

"It means," said her neighbor, "that Farmer Green can't be of much
account."

That speech made Henrietta Hen almost lose her temper.

"Mr. Green," she cried, "is a fine man. And I'll have you know that I
wouldn't live anywhere but on his farm!"




XXIII

GETTING ACQUAINTED


Not liking her neighbor on her right, at the fair, Henrietta Hen sidled
up to the wire netting on the opposite side of her pen. Peering through
it, she examined the person whom she saw just beyond, in a pen of her
own.

A very sleek hen was this, who gave Henrietta a slight nod.

"We may as well speak," she said, "since we're to live next to each other
for a week."

"A week!" Henrietta groaned. "Shall I have to stay cooped up here as long
as that?"