ther living, and
he decided that if one of them paid him 250 florins for the secret, the
other would perhaps be inclined to pay something too. So he got into the
train, travelled to Besztercebanya, and looked up Boldizsar. There was
nothing surprising in that except, perhaps, the fact that Prepelicza was
not such a fool as he looked.

"Oh, the wretch!" Gaspar kept on saying. "But he shall not have it, I
_will_ buy it. I'll give you 25,000 florins for it."

Sztolarik smiled and rubbed his hands.

"It will belong to the one who gives most for it. If it were mine, I
would give it you for the 15,000 florins you offered at first, for I
always keep my word. But as it belongs to a minor, and I have his
interests at heart, I must do the best I can for him. Now don't you
think I am right?"

Gaspar agreed with him, and tried to make him promise to give him the
preference. But what was the good of it? Sztolarik met Boldizsar that
evening at the club, and made no secret of the fact that Gaspar had been
to see him that morning, and offered him 5000 florins more for the
orchard. But Boldizsar was not surprised, and only answered:

"Well, I will give 30,000."

And this mad auction went on for days, until the attention of the whole
town was drawn to it, and people began to think the Gregorics must have
gone mad, or that there must be some important reason for their wishing
to have possession of "Lebanon."

Gaspar came and offered 32,000 florins, and as soon as Boldizsar heard
of it, he came and offered 3000 florins more; and so on, until people's
hair began to stand on end.

"Let them go on as long as they like," thought the lawyer.

And they did go on, until they reached the sum of 50,000 florins, which
was Boldizsar's last offer. And heaven only knows how long it would have
gone on still.

The engineer had been to look at the place, and had declared there was
nothing of any value to be found there, not even a bit of gold, unless
it were the stoppings of some dead woman's teeth.

"But supposing there is coal there?"

"Not a sign of it."

"Then what on earth are the Gregorics thinking of?"

Whatever the reason was, it was certainly to Gyuri's advantage, and his
guardian meant to make the most of the opportunity, so he let the two
brothers go on bidding till the sum promised was 50,000 florins. He
intended to wait till Gaspar capped it with 52,000, and then close the
bargain.

But he had reckoned without his host, fo