that the candor made her records more useful, not less, and that the university wished to send a representative to inspect the flock. He proposed an initial purchase of qualified stock for its breeding study, with later orders dependent on the results. Vera carried the letter out to the barn and read it once, then folded it and checked the feed bins because excitement had never filled a trough.
The college representative arrived in May, a patient man named Arthur Bell who wore a clean tie but did not seem offended when Vera warned him that the barn smelled of chickens. He brought a scale, several forms, and a notebook of his own, and he spent most of the day examining birds with her. They compared records, inspected legs and feathers, and discussed why a single attractive trait did not establish the quality of a breeding line. Bell asked whether she would consider giving the birds a grand name to improve their market appeal. Vera told him they could earn a name after they had earned their reputation.
"You've kept better records than some farms three times this size," Bell told her before leaving.
"Those farms might have better things to do," Vera said.
"They don't. They simply think they can remember everything."
He accepted the group that met the university's preliminary requirements, fewer than Vera had once imagined selling but enough to make the first delivery meaningful. They signed a purchase document listing the birds individually rather than as an anonymous lot, and Vera received a receipt promising payment after the school's final intake inspection. She did not count the money that evening, though the temptation was considerable. She copied the document twice, filed the original with the bank papers, and waited to hear whether the birds passed.
The payment arrived with a second letter from the professor. The college was satisfied with the health and documented background of the stock, and it wanted Vera to continue keeping the breeding line while the research program studied its inheritance and production. The amount covered a major portion of the Henderson note and left enough for feed and building repairs if she spent it carefully. Vera took the letter to Mr. Halvorsen and asked him to apply part of the payment against the balance, then returned to the co-op to arrange a larger supply of grain. The bank officer did not congratulate her until he had checked the payment record and written the revised figure in her account.
Martha celebrated more openly. She placed the university letter beside a carton of blue-white eggs and announced to anyone entering the shop that the college had bought birds from Vera Aldren. Vera asked her not to make claims about the breed that the professor had not established, and Martha promised