"The question," said Wallace, "how much it is necessary to allow for a reasonable time, depends upon the nature of the subject that the offer relates to. If two persons were writing at a table, and one of them were to offer the other six wafers in exchange for a steel pen, five minutes, or even one minute, might be a reasonable time to allow him for decision. On the other hand, in buying a house, two or three days would not be more than would be reasonable. Now, I think in such a case as this, any person who should receive such an offer as Beechnut made, ought to have time enough to consider the whole subject fairly. He would wish to see the hen-house, to examine its condition, to consider how long it would take him to put it in order, and how much trouble the care of the hens would make him afterward. He would also want to know how many eggs he was likely to receive, and to consider whether these would be return enough for all his trouble. Now, it does not seem to me, that one hour, coming too just when Stuyvesant was called away to dinner, could be considered a reasonable time. He ought to have a fair opportunity when the offer is once made to him, to consider it and decide understandingly, whether he would accept it or not." "Well," said Phonny, with a sigh, "I suppose I must give it up." So he and Stuyvesant walked back to the shop together. CHAPTER VII. THE WORK SHOP. When the boys entered the shop door, the first thing for Phonny to do, was to look and see if his trap was safe. It _was_ safe. It remained standing upon the horse-block where he had placed it. "And now," said Phonny, "the question is, where I am to find a box for a cage. I must go and look about." "And I must go and look at my hen-house," said Stuyvesant. Phonny proposed that Stuyvesant should go with him to find a box, and then help him make a cage, and after that, he would go, he said, and help Stuyvesant about the repairs of the hen-house. "I must go and _look_ at the hen-house first," said Stuyvesant. "I can do that, while you are finding the box, and then I will help you." "Well," said Phonny. "But--on the whole, I will go with you to look at it, and then you can go with me to find the box." So the boys walked along toward the hen-house together. When they came to the place, they went in, and Stuyvesant proceeded to examine the premises very thoroughly. There were two doors of admission. One was a large one, for men and boys to go in at. The other was a very small one, a square hole in fact, rather than a door, and was intended for the hens.