Good Country People

Originally published in Harper's Bazaar, June 1955. This story is now available in the anthologies A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories, The Dark Descent, and
The Dark Descent: The Medusa in the Shield v. 2

Mrs. Hopewell is a country farmer and her estranged daughter Hulga has a degree in philosophy. A stranger arrives and convinces them both that he's a naive Bible salesman. They're wrong and the consequences are particularly humiliating for Hulga.