horses. In fifteen minutes the doctor came out, his face flushed a little, his eyes bright.
"It would be just the thing!" he announced confidently. "If only the price happens to be right, Mr. Steele."
"As I said," replied Steele, "I have an option on the place and that option calls for an expenditure of twenty thousand dollars only."
Gilchrist, no business man and no pretender at bargain driving, allowed himself to look his surprise.
"That certainly sounds ridiculously cheap," he admitted. "But of course," smilingly, "you'd not be selling at the same figure. I'd quite forgotten that part of it. Just how big a difference would there be, Mr. Steele, between your buying and selling price?"
"Just exactly ten thousand dollars!" returned Steele coolly.
Gilchrist's eyebrows went up.
"You are not doing business just for fun, are you, Mr. Steele?" he said a trifle coldly.
Gilchrist wondered at Bill Steele's sudden mirth, at his big, booming laughter. Certainly he had set the man down as eccentric, but …
"In this particular instance," cried Steele warmly, "that is just exactly what I am doing business for; just for fun! I said that the difference between my buying and selling price would be just ten thousand dollars, didn't I? Well, so it will. If you will just keep your mouth shut about what concerns just you and me … if you will take good care not to refute
