"Is your company fully organized?" asked Gresham with a trace of
more than polite interest.

"I think not," answered Courtney. "I'm not in a position to state,
however, as the matter is out of my hands. I am taking some stock in
it, of course; but I have nothing to do with the organization of the
company, since I have sold the ground to Mr. Gamble."

"Gamble?" repeated Gresham. "Oh, is that so?"

His tone was so deprecative that Courtney was sharply awakened by
it.

"Do you know anything against Gamble?" he quite naturally inquired.

"Not a thing," Gresham hastily assured him. "Anyhow, you have sold
him the property and are fully secured?"

"I've sold it to him under contract," replied Courtney, ready, in
view of his recent experiences, to become panic-stricken at a
moment's notice.

"Of course, if anything happens you can reclaim the property,"
Gresham considered. "It forms its own security; but still, any one
holding a private claim against Gamble might try to attach it and
give you a nasty entanglement."

"There doesn't seem to be any danger of that," argued Courtney,
looking worried, nevertheless. "He was able to show me an extremely
clean bill of health. The only drawback I could find in his record