Lofty was surprised by the accuracy of his knowledge. "I'd like to
borrow your guesser," he admitted.

Johnny and the girls looked at each other with smiles of infantile
glee. They were delighted that they had deduced all this while
waiting for a traffic Napoleon to blow his whistle.

"Somebody's been telling," surmised Lofty. "The worst of it is, we
own the original lease. Father covered the entire block, in fact."

Johnny's thorough knowledge of New York business conditions enabled
him to make another good conjecture.

"Your firm has made money too fast," he remarked. "Your father hoped
to build in twenty years, and you need to build in seven."

"He provided much better than that," returned Lofty in quick defense
of his father's acumen. "He only allowed ten-year leases; but the
one occupied by Ersten came to him with a twenty-year life on it.
We've bought off all the other tenants, at startlingly extravagant
figures in some cases; but Ersten won't listen."

"Did you rattle your keys?" inquired Johnny, much interested.

"As loudly as possible," returned Lofty, smiling. "I went up three
steps at a time until I had offered him a hundred thousand; then I
quit. Money wouldn't buy him."

"Then you can't build," innocently remarked Constance.