," she wheezed. "Nobody will pay that
price--not even William Slosher; and he'll buy anything if his wife
pouts for it in the ridiculous French clothes she's brought back with
her."

"So the Sloshers are back?" he guessed, with an understanding, at last,
of her agitation.

"They came last night," she admitted, inflating with a multitude of
feelings. "The most ungrateful people in the world! So far from being
thankful for the time and pains and money we spent to protect them,
they're viciously angry and are making threats--positive threats--that
they will disgrace the entire neighborhood!"

"Do you refuse this property at two hundred and seventy-five thousand?"
Mr. Gamble interestedly wanted to know.

"Certainly I do!" she emphatically declared, positive that no human
being would pay that absurd increase in valuation.

"Then the price is withdrawn," he told her; and she left him, puzzling
mightily over that last remark.

Johnny Gamble was a man of steady nerves, yet even he fidgeted until
three o'clock for fear Mr. Slosher would not call him up. At that hour,
however, Mr. Slosher called in person, accompanied by his wife. There
is no need to describe Mr. Slosher, who was merely an elderly gentleman
of much vigor and directness; and it is impossible to describe Mrs.
Slosher, who was never twice alike, anyhow, being merely the spirit of
a beautiful ever changing youth in a body of beautiful ever changing
habiliments.

"What do you want for the river-view property you have just purchased?"
Mr. Slosher demanded.

"I don't know," confessed Johnny, laughing. "The valuation is going up
so rapidly that I can't keep track of it myself. Mrs. Guff was just in,
asking the price."

Mrs. Slosher tapped the toe of a beautiful satin carriage slipper
impatiently upon the floor, and a very bright red spot glowed on each
cheek; but she did not say a word. She only looked at her husband. Mr.
Gamble had a queer idea that her mere gaze could, on an occasion like
this, burn holes through a cake of ice. Certain it is that Mr. Slosher
turned quickly to her--and then, as if he had been galvanized, turned
back to Johnny.

"I'll give you until to-morrow night to secure your highest offer and
then I'll add five per cent, to it," he stated.

"You understand the restrictions, I suppose?" ventured Johnny.

"Perfectly. My kind neighbors have handed me a ten-story
apartment-house, with a minimum rental per suite of three thousand
dollars