e mine," said Colonel Doller. "As soon as I
heard that you had purchased this place it occurred to me that you
ought to have that twenty-five feet in order to make the rest of your
property available. So, without saying a word about it to anybody
else, I 've stepped over here to tell you that if you want it I 'll
throw that strip in to you at one hundred and twenty-five dollars per
front foot."

"We gave only one hundred dollars a foot for this lot," said I.

"Very true," said Colonel Doller, "but _my_ lot admits of giving you a
frontage of two hundred and thirty-nine feet on Sandpile Terrace."

"To be sure it does," said I. "For the moment I quite lost sight of
that. Well, I think very favorably of it, and I suspect Mr. Black
would insist upon my closing with you at once. I 'll speak to Alice
about it."

"Be careful not to breathe a word of it to anybody else," suggested
Colonel Doller in a low, mysterious tone, "and whatever else you do,
don't let my partner, Leet, have even so much as an inkling of the fact
that we 've had a talk! You understand?"

"It shall be kept a profound secret!" said I, with solemn earnestness.

Colonel Doller patted me reassuringly on the shoulder as he arose to
depart.

"Baker," said he, kindly, "you are as good as a rich man already! You
get that extra twenty-five feet and make a subdivision of this
property, and you 'll have so much money you won't know what to do with
it! Why, the next thing we'll hear of you, you'll be living in a
castle on a hill, with an observatory--just think of it, Baker, old
man! an observatory and a twelve-foot telescope capable of discovering
a new comet every night, rain or shine!"

The kind gentleman's enthusiasm quite took my breath away. As I
watched him departing down the shady drive my heart overflowed with
gratitude, and again I thanked the providential Power that had given me
so many kind, solicitous, and self-sacrificing friends.

My conversation with Colonel Doller set me to indulging in thoughts
which were entirely new to me, and which pleased me with their novelty
and brilliancy. I fancied myself already possessed of a wealth which
permitted me to pursue unreservedly those studies and investigations
which have been my delight since youth. In imagination I pictured
myself the owner of a sightly residence surmounted by a spacious
observatory, in which was located a magnificent reflector-telescope
operated by the newest and nicest m