our life it will! What of it?"

"Then I don't know that I care to sell."

He leaned back in his chair.

"You don't care to sell!" he repeated, slowly. "What the devil do you
mean by that?"

"What I said. And, besides, Mr. Colton, I--"

He interrupted me.

"Why don't you care to sell?" he demanded. "The land is no good to you,
is it?"

"Not much. No."

"Humph! Are you so rich that you've got all the money you want?"

I was angry all through. I rose from my chair.

"Good day, Mr. Colton," I said.

"Here!" he shouted. "Hold on! Where are you going?"

"I can't see that there is any use of our talking further."

"No use? Why--There! there! sit down. It's none of my business how rich
you are, and I beg your pardon. Sit down. Sit down, man, I tell you!"

I sat down, reluctantly. He threw his cigar, which had gone out, into
the fireplace and lit another.

"Say," he said, "you surprise me, Paine. What do you mean by saying you
won't sell that land? You don't know what I'll pay for it yet."

"No, I don't."

"Then how do you know you won't sell it? I never had anything
yet--except my wife and family--that I wouldn't sell for a price. Look
here! I haven't got time to do any Down-East horse-jockeying. I'll make
you an offer. I'll give you five hundred dollars cash for that strip of
land. What do you say?"

I didn't say anything. Five hundred dollars was a generous offer. I
couldn't help thinking what Mother and I might do with that five hundred
dollars.

"What do you say?" he repeated.

I answered, Yankee fashion, with another question. "Mr. Colton," I
asked, "why do you want to close that Shore Lane?"

"Because I do. What difference does it make to you why I want to close
it?"

"That Lane has been used by Denboro people for years. It is almost a
public necessity."

He puffed twice on his cigar before he spoke again. When he did it was
in a different tone.

"I see," he said. "Humph! I see. Paine, does the town pay you rent for
the use of that road?"

"No."

"Has it been bidding to buy it?"

"No."

"Is any one else after it?"

"No-o. I think not. But--"

"You THINK not. That means you're not sure. You've had a bite somewhere.
Somebody has been nibbling at your hook. Well, they've got to bite quick
and swallow some to get ahead of me. I want that road closed and I'm
going to have it closed, sooner or later. I'd prefer it sooner."

"But why do you want to close it?"

Before he could answer