Some weeks passed , during which the peasant did not come round to ask after the calf , being frightened lest it should cost him another hundred dollars , for he had begun to squirm a bit at having to part with so much money . Meanwhile the clerk decided that the calf was as fat as it could be , so he killed it . After he had got all the beef out of the way he went inside , put on his black clothes , and made his way to the peasant 's house . As soon as he had said ` Good-day ' he asked , ` Has Peter come home here ? ' ` No , indeed , he has n't , ' said the man ; ` surely he has n't run away ? ' ' I hope , ' said the clerk , ` that he would not behave so contemptibly after all the trouble I have had to teach him , and all that I have spent upon him . I have had to spend at least a hundred dollars of my own money to buy books for him before I got him so far on . He could say anything he liked now , so he said to-day that he longed to see his parents again . I was willing to give him that pleasure , but I was afraid that he would n't be able to find the way here by himself , so I made myself ready to go with him . When we had got outside the house I remembered that I had left my stick inside , and went in again to get it . When I came out again Peter had gone off on his own account . I thought he would be here , and if he is n't I do n't know where he is . ' The peasant and his wife began to lament bitterly that Peter had run away in this fashion just when they were to have so much joy of him , and after they had spent so much on his education . The worst of it was that now they had no heir after all . The clerk comforted them as best he could ; he also was greatly distressed that Peter should have behaved in such a way just when he should have gained honour from his pupil . Perhaps he had only gone astray , and he would advertise him at church next Sunday , and find out where anyone had seen him . Then he bade them ` Good-bye , ' and went home nad dined on a good fat veal roast . Now it so happened that the clerk took in a newspaper , and one day he chanced to read in its columns of a new merchant who had settled in a town at some distance , and whose name was ` Peter Bull . ' He put the newspaper in his pocket , and went round to the sorrowing couple who had lost their heir . He read the paragraph to them , and added , ' I wonder , now , whether that could be your bull-calf Peter ? '
` Yes , of course it is , ' said the XXXXX ; ` who else would it be ? '
account beef heir home man merchant paragraph peasant round way