hed and whose whole personality
suggested the rasp of saw-filing, was in her own confession actuated by
less affectionate motives.

"I'm glad of it!" she snapped. "Mrs. Slosher is always talking about
their superb river view and the general superiority of the Slosher
location, the Slosher residence, the Slosher everything! I'm glad of
it!"

The other ladies felt that Mrs. Mason was very catty.

At four o'clock that afternoon Johnny entered in his book:

"May third. To seven hours--nine hours behind schedule--$35,000. To
Purry speculation, $210,000."

To offset this was:

"May third. To a chance, $0."

CHAPTER XI

IN WHICH JOHNNY EXECUTES SOME EXCEEDINGLY RAPID BUSINESS DEALS

Sitting tight and watching the hands of his watch go round, with a
deficit of five thousand dollars an hour piling up against him, was as
hard work as Johnny Gamble had ever done; and yet he knew that, if he
succumbed to impatience and went to the De Luxe Apartments Company
before they came to him, he would relinquish a fifty per cent,
advantage. He saw another day slipping past him, with a total deficit
of sixteen hours behind his schedule--or an appalling shortage of
eighty thousand dollars--when, at one o'clock on Thursday, the expected
happened--and a brisk little man, with a mustache which would have been
highly luxuriant if he had not kept it bitten off as closely as he
could reach it, dropped in, inquired for Loring, jerked a chair as
close to him as he could get it and said, in one breath: "Want to sell
your river-view property?"

"Certainly," replied Loring, in whose name the property stood. "Mr.
Gamble is handling that for me. Mr. Chase, Mr. Gamble."

Mr. Chase, holding to his chair, jumped up, hurried over to Johnny and
once more jerked the chair close up.

"How much do you want for it?" he asked.

"Two hundred and seventy-five thousand."

"Too much. I understand it's restricted to apartment-house purposes
alone?"

"Yes."

"Not less than ten stories, and a minimum rental of three thousand
dollars a suite?"

"Yes."

"You can't sell it for that price with those restrictions."

"We can build on it," replied Johnny calmly.

"You won't," asserted Mr. Chase with equal conviction. "You bought it
to sell. I'll give you two hundred and fifty thousand."

"No," refused Johnny quite bravely, though with a panicky feeling as he
thought of that appallingly swift schedule.

"All right," said Chase. "I'll hold the