"If you don't mind, I'll just transfer my option to the colonel," he suggested. 

 "The game is in your hands—for the present," Gresham acknowledged. 

 "We'll just fix it up that way, then, Colonel. Polly, lend me your fountain-pen again. Colonel, you may hand me your check for seventeen thousand five hundred. You may pay the balance of the money to Gresham—upon delivery, I suppose, of the deed." 

 "Surely," said the colonel nonchalantly; and, producing his own fountain-pen and check-book, he wrote Johnny Gamble's check, while Gamble wrote a transfer of his option. Constance watched that unquestioning operation between the two gentlemen with puzzled brows. 

 "You're not taking this matter to your lawyer, Colonel," she observed. 

 "Certainly not!" he replied in surprise. "I've known Johnny Gamble for years, and I'd take his word for my entire bank-account." 

 "I must confess that business ethics has me more confused than ever," laughed Constance. "You just now accused Mr. Gamble of robbing you." 

 It was the colonel's turn to laugh. 

 "I'd have paid him sixty thousand," he advised her, placing the option affectionately in his pocket-book. "It's worth that to me. I've been afraid to broach the matter to Gresham for a month, for fear he'd want seventy-five when he found out I had to have it. I'm getting it cheaper through Gamble." 

 A fleeting trace of guilt upon Gresham's countenance told that this surmise was the truth, and Constance shook her head. 

 "I don't suppose I shall ever understand it," she confessed. 

 "I don't, myself," observed Gamble, passing the colonel's check between his fingers quite happily. "I can loaf three hours now on that two-hundred-hour stunt, thanks to you, Gresham." 

 "You had your start by luck," Gresham reminded him. 

 "Not at all," insisted Gamble cheerfully. "I would have borrowed the money from the colonel to buy that option. How's that for ethics, Miss Joy?" 

 "It's quite in keeping with your methods of the day," rejoined Gresham. "I still insist that you took an unfair advantage of me." 

 The colonel, who regretted to be compelled to dislike 

 Prev. P 20/152 next