---"

"Answer--_quick!_"

"Yes."

"What did ye pay for it? _Quick!_"

"Ten thousand dollars."

"Put that down first."

The joy and gladness had entirely melted out of Mrs. Panel's thin
voice as she whispered dole-fully to me: "Jaspar _is_ crazy,
after all."

"No, he isn't," I whispered back.

Jaspar continued in a mild voice: "What does a way-up outfit o' lady's
clothes cost: sealskin sacques, satins, the best of everything outside
and in?"

"I don't know."

"You've got to figger it out--_quick!_"

"Say ten thousand, more or less."

"Put down fifteen; I'd jest as lief it was more 'n less. Put down a
hundred dollars fer me, I mean to hev a good suit o' clothes myself.
What does that come to?"

"Twenty-five thousand, one hundred dollars. Aren't you wasting time,
Mr. Panel?"

"Nit. Of course if we happened to be interrupted it might be awkward
fer you. If somebody should call, you'll say, of course, that yer very
particularly engaged, eh?"

"Yes," said Nathaniel Leveson. "To oblige me, Mr. Panel, take your
finger from that trigger."

"Ah? I'd ought ter hev done that before. I'd disremembered 'twas a
hair trigger. Now then, put down Sunny Bushes, includin' the oil lake,
at yer own figger, fifty thousand. Got it? Yas. Now then, for wear an'
tear of two precious souls an' bodies--that's it! Fifty thousand more.
Got it? Yas. How much now?"

"One hundred and twenty-five thousand, one hundred dollars."

"Right! What does a marble hall cost?"

"A marble----"

"You heard what I said plain enough. You live in one yerself. What did
that leetle shebang on Nob Hill cost ye?"

"Four hundred thousand dollars."

"Jiminy Christmas! Marble halls come high, but you've a large fam'ly,
more's the pity. Put down seventy-five thousand. Got it? Yas. Now
then, about statooary--"

"Good God!"

"Don't call on the Lord so loud. I reckon he's nearer than you give
Him credit fer. Statooary comes high, too, but one don't want overly
much of it. A leetle gives a tone to a parlour. Put down five
thousand. Got it! Yas. Furniture an' fixins, lemmee see! Wal, when it
comes to buyin' fixin's, Mis' Panel beats the world. Put down ten
thousand more. Total, please!"

"Two hundred and fifteen thousand and one hundred dollars."

"Make out yer personal note to me an' Mis' Panel fer that amount. One
day after date. An' consideration. Sunny Bushes, oil, mortgage an'
all, but _not_ the stock, I wouldn't sell any living critter t