"What!" exclaimed John with surprise, "did you give all your money for
that little concern?"

"Yes, every cent of it."

"You are not half so bright as I thought you were. It is four times as
much as the whistle is worth."

"Did you ask the price of it?" inquired his mother.

"No, I told the man I would give him all the money I had for one, and
he took it."

"Of course he did," interjected John, "and if you had had four times as
much he would have taken it for the whistle. You are a poor trader,
Ben."

"You should have asked the price of it in the first place," remarked
his mother to him, "and then, if there was not enough, you could have
offered all the money you had for the whistle. That would have been
proper."

"If you had paid a reasonable price for it," continued John, "you might
had enough money left to have bought a pocket full of good things."

"Yes, peppermints, candy, cakes, nuts, and perhaps more," added a
cousin who was present, desiring most of all to hear what the bright
boy would say for himself.

"I must say that you are a smart fellow, Ben, to be taken in like