Johnny. "I understand you're going to
build an extension, Mr. Lofty."

The girls gasped and then almost tittered.

Young Lofty ceased immediately to be the suave master of friendly
favors and became the harassed slave of finance.

"I don't know where you secured your information," he protested.

"I'm a fancy guesser," returned Johnny with a grin.

"I wish you were right," said Lofty soberly. "We have quietly gained
possession of nearly all the property in the block, but we're not quite
ready to build, nevertheless."

"I can finish the sad story," sympathized Johnny. "One granite-headed
ladies' tailor threatens to block the way for thirteen years."

Lofty was surprised by the accuracy of his knowledge. "I'd like to
borrow your guesser," he admitted.

Johnny and the girls looked at each other with smiles of infantile
glee. They were delighted that they had deduced all this while waiting
for a traffic Napoleon to blow his whistle.

"Somebody's been telling," surmised Lofty. "The worst of it is, we own
the original lease. Father covered the entire block, in fact."

Johnny's thorough knowledge of New York business conditions enabled him
to make another good conjecture.

"Your firm has made money too fast," he remarked. "Your father hoped to
build in twenty years, and you need to build in seven."

"He provided much better than that," returned Lofty in quick defense of
his father's acumen. "He only allowed ten-year leases; but the one
occupied by Ersten came to him with a twenty-year life on it. We've
bought off all the other tenants, at startlingly extravagant figures in
some cases; but Ersten won't listen."

"Did you rattle your keys?" inquired Johnny, much interested.

"As loudly as possible," returned Lofty, smiling. "I went up three
steps at a time until I had offered him a hundred thousand; then I
quit. Money wouldn't buy him."

"Then you can't build," innocently remarked Constance.

Willis Lofty immediately displayed his real age in his eyes and his
jaws.

"I'll tear down the top part of his building and put a tunnel around
him if necessary," he asserted.

"You won't like that any better than Ersten," commented Johnny. "I
think I'll have to make another guess for you."

"I like your work," replied Lofty with a smile. "Let's hear it."

"All right. I guess I'll buy Ersten's lease for you."

"You'll have to find another answer, I'm afraid," Lofty hopelessly
stated. "I've had a regiment of real est