CHAPTER XI
IN WHICH JOHNNY EXECUTES SOME EXCEEDINGLY RAPID BUSINESS DEALS
Sitting tight and watching the hands of his watch go round, with adeficit of five thousand dollars an hour piling up against him, was ashard work as Johnny Gamble had ever done; and yet he knew that, if hesuccumbed to impatience and went to the De Luxe Apartments Companybefore they came to him, he would relinquish a fifty per cent,advantage. He saw another day slipping past him, with a total deficitof sixteen hours behind his schedule--or an appalling shortage ofeighty thousand dollars--when, at one o'clock on Thursday, the expectedhappened--and a brisk little man, with a mustache which would have beenhighly luxuriant if he had not kept it bitten off as closely as hecould reach it, dropped in, inquired for Loring, jerked a chair asclose to him as he could get it and said, in one breath: "Want to sellyour river-view property?"
"Certainly," replied Loring, in whose name the property stood. "Mr.Gamble is handling that for me. Mr. Chase, Mr. Gamble."
Mr. Chase, holding to his chair, jumped up, hurried over to Johnny andonce more jerked the chair close up.
"How much do you want for it?" he asked.
"Two hundred and seventy-five thousand."
"Too much. I understand it's restricted to apartment-house purposesalone?"
"Yes."
"Not less than ten stories, and a minimum rental of three thousanddollars a suite?"
"Yes."
"You can't sell it for that price with those restrictions."
"We can build on it," replied Johnny calmly.
"You won't," asserted Mr. Chase with equal conviction. "You bought itto sell. I'll give you two hundred and fifty thousand."
"No," refused Johnny quite bravely, though with a panicky feeling as hethought of that appallingly swift schedule.
"All right," said Chase. "I'll hold the offer open at that figure forforty-eight hours. I think you'll come to it."
"I doubt it," responded Johnny, smiling; but he was afraid he would.
In less than an hour he received an unexpected call from Mrs. Guff, whowas in such secret agitation that she quivered like jelly whenever shebreathed.
"Mr. Guff and myself have decided to take Miss Purry's river-viewproperty off your hands, Mr. Gamble," was the glad tidings she conveyedto him, smiling to share his delight. "We can't think of letting thatriver view slip by us."
"I'm glad to hear it," he announced with gratification, as he thoughtof Mr. Chase. "Have you secured the consent of your partners in theoption to waive the apartment-house requirements?"
"Oh, no!" she ejaculated, shocked that any one should think thatpossible. "We have decided to build the apartment-house and to livethere."
"To live there!" he repeated, remembering the elaborate Guff residence.
"Yes, indeed!" she enthusiastically exclaimed. "You know the propertyslopes down to the river beautifully, and exquisite, private, terracedgardens could be built there. We could take the entire lower floor ofthe apartment building for ourselves, with a private driveway archedright through it; and we could take the first three floors of the rearpart for our own use, with wonderful Venetian balconies overlooking theterraces and the river. The remaining apartments would have entranceson the two front corners, leaving us all the effect of a Venetianpalace. Don't you think that's clever?"
"It is clever!" he repeated with smiling emphasis, and mentally raisingChase's ultimatum ten per cent.
"I suppose you'll want to charge us more for the property than you paidfor it," she suggested with a faint hope that maybe he might not, sincehe had bought it so recently--and through them.
"That's what I'm in business for," he blandly acknowledged. "I can letyou have the property for two hundred and seventy-five thousanddollars."
"How much did you say?" she gasped.
"Two hundred and seventy-five thousand."
"Why, it's an outrage!" she puffed. "You paid only two hundred and tenthousand for it yesterday."
"I'm not telling you its cost to me yesterday, but its value to-day,"he reminded her.
Mrs. Guff had helped her husband to his business success in the earlydays--and she had driven bargains with supply men which had made themglad when she was ill.
"You may keep the property," she wheezed. "Nobody will pay thatprice--not even William Slosher; and he'll buy anything if his wifepouts for it in the ridiculous French clothes she's brought back withher."
"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 offeelings. "The most ungrateful people in the world! So far from beingthankful for the time and pains and money we spent to protect them,they're viciously angry and are making threats--positive threats--thatthey 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 humanbeing would pay that absurd increase in valuation.
"Then the price is withdrawn," he told her; and she left him, puzzlingmightily over that last remark.
Johnny Gamble was a man of steady nerves, yet even he fidgeted untilthree o'clock for fear Mr. Slosher would not call him up. At that hour,however, Mr. Slosher called in person, accompanied by his wife. Thereis no need to describe Mr. Slosher, who was merely an elderly gentlemanof much vigor and directness; and it is impossible to describe Mrs.Slosher, who was never twice alike, anyhow, being merely the spirit ofa beautiful ever changing youth in a body of beautiful ever changinghabiliments.
"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 upso 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 slipperimpatiently upon the floor, and a very bright red spot glowed on eachcheek; 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 likethis, burn holes through a cake of ice. Certain it is that Mr. Slosherturned quickly to her--and then, as if he had been galvanized, turnedback to Johnny.
"I'll give you until to-morrow night to secure your highest offer andthen 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-storyapartment-house, with a minimum rental per suite of three thousanddollars a year. I'm going to build their neighborhood ornament and fillit with high-toned niggers!"
Mrs. Slosher smiled. She was a beautiful young woman. To youth belongsmuch.
Johnny Gamble, caught amidships, as it were, snorted.
"Well, I don't live out there," he said.
Mr. Slosher smiled.
"That is all, I believe," he announced as he assisted Mrs. Slosher toher feet with that punctilious gallantry which defies a younger man todo it better.
At four o'clock Jim Guff called Mr. Gamble on the telephone.
"Hello, Gamble!" he hailed in an entirely new voice. "You're a robber!"
"You flatter me," returned Johnny quite comfortably. "Is there anythingI can do for you in that line?"
"A whole lot," replied Guff. "I'll accept the price you gave Mrs. Guffon that river-view site."
"Too late," answered Johnny cheerfully. "I withdrew that offer beforeMrs. Guff left the office. Mr. and Mrs. Slosher have been in sincethen."
Jim Guff's voice cracked as he hastily said:
"I'll meet any offer he makes you and tack a five-thousand-dollar bonusto it."
Johnny called up the De Luxe Apartments. Company and secured the ear ofMr. Chase.
"I withdraw my offer of two hundred and seventy-five thousand for thatriver-view property," he stated. "What is the best bid you will make meabove that figure?"
"I'm not incline
d to scramble for it," immediately claimed Mr. Chase,who was aware at the time that he was telling a point-blank lie.
"Very well, then," said Johnny, wondering how he was to get a definitefigure without committing himself. "I'll have to drop you out of mycalculations."
"When must you know?"
"To-morrow morning."
"You're bluffing!" charged Mr. Chase scornfully.
"I have two very earnest bidders for the property," insisted Johnnywith dignity--and completed his bluff, if Chase cared to regard it thatway, by hanging up his receiver.
Before he left the office he entered in his books:
"May 4. Sold; but I don't know who to or at what price. Close toschedule, though."
He entered the next day in advance:
"May 5. The Babies' Fund Fair--Holiday. Nothing doing."