Ignorant of social interplay as Johnny Gamble was, he somehow divined that William G. Slosher's doll was the neighborhood reason for everything. 

 "If you were only certain of what you intend to build there—" she suggested, to break the helpless silence. 

 "I have an apartment-house in mind," he told her. 

 "That would be very large and very high, no doubt," she guessed, looking pleased. 

 "It's the only kind that would pay," Johnny Gamble hastily assured her. "It would be expensive—no suite less than three thousand a year and nobody allowed to do anything." 

 "I'll consider the matter," she said musingly. 

 "What about the price?" asked Johnny, whose mind had been fixed upon that important detail. 

 "Oh, yes—the price," agreed Miss Purry indifferently; "I've been holding it at two hundred thousand. I shall continue to hold it at that figure." 

 "Then that's the price," decided Johnny. "Can't we come to an agreement now?" 

 "To-morrow afternoon at three," she dryly insisted. 

 He saw that she meant to-morrow afternoon at three. 

 "Can't I arrange with you for a twenty-four-hour option?" he begged, becoming anxious. 

 "I shall not bind myself in any way," she declared. "To-morrow afternoon at three." 

 "That's a beautiful piece of property," commented Johnny as they drove by. "By George, the apartment-house will shut those people off from the river!" 

 "That's the only reason she'd be willing to sell," replied Val. "What set you hunting up this property?" 

 "The De Luxe Apartments Company intends confining its operations to this quarter. They'll go scouting among the listed properties first—and they may not find this one until I am asking them two hundred and fifty for it." 

 That afternoon, Johnny, always prompt, was ahead of time at the final committee meeting of the Babies' Fund Fair, but Constance Joy did not seem in the least surprised at his punctuality. 

 "I was in hopes you'd come early," 

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