AT THE MARKET 2

''What  cried the driver, seizing Ama's arm and beginning to shake he, ''don't you know the difference between a pound and a ten-shill,ing note, you foolish girl   

''please let me go, ''said Ama, ''and look--I only have one note in my cloth--and that is the one you gave me.''  

''Rubbish ,''roared the  driver, ''you can't cheat me like that   He then shook Ama by the arm until she dropped her tray and the precious loaves rolled into the dirt of the gutter.

Quite a crowd had collected as Ama, almost blinded by her tears, bent to retrieve her scattered loaves; and,  as the driver renewed his attack, a young man stepped from among the spectators and spoke to him with authority and anger in his voice. "Stop that at once!" he said. 

"I saw everything that happened. You are both a liar and a bully; and if his girl want to charge you I will go with her to the police station and give evidence.

" the driver not speak a word. Hanging his head, he elbowed his way through the crowd and made off as quickly as he could, followed by the derisive hoots of the spectators.

Ama was so upset that she scarcely dared look at her champion; and when he insisted on accompanying her to her hone to explain to her mother what had happened to the bread, she spoke not a single word all the way. Her mother came to the door as she heard them crossing the yard, and, to Ama's surprise, instead of asking the reason for her daughter's tears, all her attention was fixed on the strange young man. 

"Why! It's aunt Essi!" Ama's companion exclaimed with a gasp; and Ama watched with amazement as her mother came forward with outstretched hands, exclaiming, "It's Kwasi, isn't it ? How glad I am to see you!"

The mystery was explained when they were seated indoors. 

Ama's mother had married against her family's wishes and had cut herself off from all her relatives for many years. 

When her husband had died, she had been too proud to go back and ask them for help in her trouble; but now here was her favorite nephew, who had found her by accident, and was urging her to go back and to forget her past miss under-standing with her family.