The man gave Frank a twenty
dollar bill, and Frank gave him back eighteen dollars in change."
"Well, wasn't that right?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, with a smile. "Two
dollars from twenty leave eighteen--or it used to when I went to
school."
"That part is all right," Mr. Mason said, bitterly, "but the fact is
that the twenty dollar bill Frank took from the strange man is no
good. It is bad money, and no one but a child would take it. It's a
bill that was gotten out by the Confederate states during the Civil
War, and of course their money isn't any better than waste-paper now.
I don't see how Frank was fooled that way. I wouldn't have been if I
had been in the office."
"Perhaps the boy never saw a Confederate bill before," suggested Mr.
Bobbsey.
"No matter, he should have known that it wasn't good United States'
money!" declared Mr. Mason. "By his carelessness to-day he lost me
twenty dollars; the eighteen dollars in my good money that he gave the
man in change, and the two dollars worth of boards. And all I have to
show for it is that worthless piece of paper!" and Mr. Mason took from
his pocket a crumpled bill.
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