"I don't have to sell and I won't sell!" Mrs. Byrd said with finality in her tone.

"That's what you think," a man said sneeringly. "You're going to lose this farm and I can buy it cheaper from the bank. Why don't you sell it to me and make a little profit? Then you can go to the city and take life easy."

"We don't want to go to the city," Joanne spoke up. "We're getting along all right here. More boarders are coming soon and we are paying off our back mortgage interest. So we don't have to sell."

Outside, Nancy, Bess, and George looked at one another. The insistent buyer again! Fervently they hoped that Mrs. Byrd would not weaken in her decision. A moment later they felt relieved.

"I will say good afternoon, Mr. Kent," Mrs. Byrd said. "Thank you for your offer, but I cannot accept it."

"You'll be sorry! You'll regret this!" the caller stormed. He came out the screen door, slamming it viciously behind him.

Nancy stared in surprise. Mr. Kent certainly was one of the most ill-mannered men she had ever seen! And also, she thought wryly, one of the most tenacious! Why was he so determined to buy the Byrd home?

Mr. Kent, his face red with anger, stepped into his car and sped off, but not before he gave Nancy and her friends a baleful look.

"Nice disposition," George commented sarcastically.

"I hope he never shows up again," Bess said firmly.

The girls found Mrs. Byrd and Joanne quite shaken. "I can't understand that man's persistence," the woman said. Nancy was sure the matter was tied in with the cult on the hillside but did not mention this theory. She merely said, "Try not to worry about Mr. Kent. I doubt that he'll return."

Soon the incident was forgotten as preparations for supper were started and the farm animals were fed. George elected to take care of gathering eggs from the henhouse. Bess gave the horse hay and water.