How this property had been given him
by his father, and was all he had in the world except what he
could earn; how he already owed ten thousand dollars and had
pledged the property as part payment, and how, in view of these
facts, he would take any sum over ten thousand dollars that Mr.
Guthrie would give him, provided Mr. Guthrie thought it was worth
that much.
"But I am buying, not selling, your land, young man," the banker
had said. "I know it, sir, and I am willing to take your own
figures," Jack replied--at which Mr. Guthrie had laughed in a
kindly way, and had then called in Mr. Ballantree and another man
how the three had then talked in a corner, and how he had heard
Mr. Guthrie say, "No, that is not fair--add another five thousand
and increase the interest to one-fifth"; whereupon the two men
went out and came back later with a letter in duplicate, one of
which Mr. Guthrie had signed, and the other which he, Jack,
signed--and here was Mr., Guthrie's letter to prove it. With this
Jack took out the document and laid it before Peter's delighted
eyes; adding that the deeds and Isaac's release were to be signed
in the morning, and that Mr.
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