twice more after that."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Gresham, turning away. "Why, I'd be letting
you tie up my property for four months."

"I'm offering you over eighty per cent, a year. You'd rather stay
tied."

Gresham pondered that problem for a moment.

"By Jove, you're right!" he said. "I'm selfish enough to hope that
you can't pay for it in thirty days." He reflected that in all
probability this reckless person was playing another long shot.
"I'll take you."

Gamble piled the money into his hands, and with Polly's fountain-
pen, wrote a clear and concise statement of the option upon the back
of an unimportant letter. Gresham, as soon as he had finished
counting the money with caressing fingers, read and reread the
option cautiously--and signed it.

Polly reached out for it.

"Let me witness this," she requested with a glance of meaning at her
friend Johnny; and, writing the word "Witnesses" in its proper
place, she signed her name and passed the paper to Miss Joy. "Come
in, Constance; the water's fine," she invited. "Be a witness with me
and let's all be in vulgar trade."

Constance signed the paper gravely, puckering her lips adorably as