each succeeding minute of suspense. Dimly he recalled that General
Gamble had spent nearly half a million dollars in the construction of
this imposing edifice. The library was worth more than one hundred
thousand dollars; the stables were stocked with innumerable
thoroughbreds; the landed estate was measured by sections instead of
acres; the stocks and bonds were--But even as he considered the
question of assets, there surged up before him an overwhelming
liability that brought the General's books to balance.

By this time, Eddie had become so proficient in the art of rapid
calculation that he could estimate within a few ounces just what a
person would have to weigh in order to be worth as much as the
library, the mansion, or the bonds. The great Gainsborough that hung
in the west end of the room corresponded in value (if reports were
true concerning the price Gamble had asked for it) to a woman weighing
a shade over two hundred and three pounds troy.

He lifted a handsome bronze figure from the library table and
murmured: "It's worth a ten-pound baby, twenty-two hundred dollars and
a fraction."

The General came in, followed closely by the butler, who bore a tray
holding at least ten cocktails. After the greetings, Eddie glanced
uneasily at the cocktails.

"Is--is it to be as big a dinner as all this?" he asked ruefully.

"Oh, no. Just family, my boy; we four. The women don't drink, Eddie,
so help yourself."