"Purday, what's the price of a pig?" and, "What does a pig cost,
Purday?"

"What d'ye all holler at once for? A body can't hear a word," was
all the answer they got; whereupon they all started together again,
and Purday went on with his mixture as if they had been so many hens
cackling.

Then Sam got up his breath again and called alone, "Purday!" and Hal
and Susan by pats and pinches strangled the like outcry from Annie
and John, so as to leave the field clear for the great question,
"Purday, what does a pig cost?"

"More than your voices up there, sir," growled Purday, making some
laugh; but Henry cried impatiently,

"Now, Purday, we really do want to know what is the price of pigs."

"They was high last market," began Purday.

"I don't care if they were high or low," said Hal; "I want to know
what money they cost."

"Different pigs cost different prices," quoth the oracle, so
sententiously, that Miss Fosbrook's shoulders shook with laughing as
she stood a little in the background of the eager heap in the window.

"A nice little pig, such as you'd give--"

"Hush, hush, Hal, it's a secret," cried Susan.