lock, even a
far larger sum than that which the boot and shoe manufacturers could be
induced to pay for it. It seemed to be a deadlock. Geary began to see
that the whole idea was out of the question. Yet the desire of it came
back upon him again and again. He dwelt upon it constantly, smelling out
the chance for a "deal" somewhere in the tangle with the instinct of the
keen man of business. At last he seemed to have straightened it out. The
idea of a compromise came into his mind. What if Vandover and Hiram Wade
could be made to compromise upon eight thousand dollars! Geary would be
willing to pay Vandover eight thousand for the block. That was his
original offer. Wade, though he had sued for twenty-five thousand, could
easily be made to see that eight thousand was as much as he could
reasonably expect, and Geary knew the boot and shoe manufacturers would
pay fifteen thousand for the lot, perhaps more.

But in order to carry out the delicate and complicated affair it was
absolutely necessary to keep Vandover from seeing a lawyer. Geary knew
that any lawyer would fight the proposition of a compromise at eight
thousand dollars: five thousand was as much as Wade could possibly get
in court, and if judgment for such amount was rendered, Vandover's
counsel would advise him to raise the sum by mortgaging some property
instead of selling the block.

Yet as soon as Geary arrived at a solution of the problem, as soon as
the "deal" began to seem feasible, he commenced to hesitate. It was not
so much that the affair was crooked, that his role in it was, to say the
least, unprofessional, as it was the fact that Vandover was his old
college chum and that, to put the matter into plain words, Geary was
swindling his best friend out of a piece of property valued at twelve
thousand six hundred dollars, and preventing him from reselling the same
piece at a very advanced figure. Again and again he wished that it was
some other than Vandover; he told himself that in such case he would put
the screw on without the least compunction. All through one night Geary
was on the rack torn between his friendship for his chum and his
devouring, inordinate ambition to make his way and to make his pile. In
the end Vandover was sacrificed--the opportunity was too good--Geary
could not resist the chance for a "deal." Ah, you bet, just think of it,
after all, not only would Vandover believe that Geary was doing him a
great service, but the office would b