"That is only ten cents on the dollar!" she cried. "You surely would
not advise me to sell for that!"

"No, I should not," he answered. "I should reject the offer. It
might be well, however, to set a price for them to consider."

They had talked this matter over before, and had agreed upon a
hundred and eighty thousand dollars. "I think it will be best to
state that figure," he said, "and give them to understand that it is
final. I imagine they would expect to bargain, but I am not much of
a hand at that, and would prefer to say what I mean and stick by
it."

"Very well!" said Lucy, "you use your own judgment."

There was a pause; then Montague, seeing the look on Lucy's face,
started to his feet. "It won't do you any good to think about
to-day's mishap," he said. "Let's start over again, and not make any
more mistakes. Come with me this evening. I have some friends who
have been begging me to bring you around ever since you came."

"Who are they?" asked Lucy.

"General Prentice and his wife. Do you know of them?"

"I have heard Mr. Ryder speak of Prentice the banker. Is that the
one you mean?"

"Yes," said Montague,--"the president of the Trust Company of the
Republic. He was an old comrade of my father's, and they were the