interest, payable semi-annually."

"You see," said Alice to me, "that we practically get the place for
five years by simply paying rent. We pay one thousand dollars down and
fifty dollars a month interest. In five years there are sixty months.
and in that time we shall have paid for this place four thousand
dollars, which is but four hundred dollars more than we should have to
pay if we remained in the house we are now living in at sixty dollars a
month rental! You see, I have figured it all out, and figures can't
lie!"

You will agree with me when I tell you right here that my wife Alice is
a superior woman.

"Now we must be very careful," said Alice, "not to breathe a word about
this to anybody until all the papers have been signed and the property
has been transferred."

I suggested that in so serious a proceeding it might be wise to have
the counsel of the more intimate of our neighbors; the Baylors, the
Rushes and the Tiltmans had had experience in such matters, and might
be of important service to us in this particular undertaking.

"No," said Alice, "we must guard against every possibility of failure.
Our plan might leak out and reach the ears of the real-estate dealers,
and then we should be hopelessly lost. Our neighbors mean well, but
they are human. No, the only people I shall consult are the Denslows."

I saw at once the wisdom of this determination. The Denslows are most
estimable folk and I admire and love them. Mrs. Denslow is of an
exceptionally warm, generous, and liberal nature, while, upon the other
hand, Mr. Denslow has the reputation of being the most cautious
business man in our city; the consequence is that in the administration
of affairs in the Denslow household you meet with that conservative
happy medium which is beautiful to contemplate. Alice was right; our
precious secret would be secure with the Denslows. In fact the
Denslows would be of distinct help to us in the vast enterprise in
which we had embarked. Mrs. Denslow would be prepared at all times to
provide sympathy and enthusiasm, and Mr. Denslow would be constituted
at once absolute engineer and watchdog of the business details of the
affair.

But--I make the confession amid blushes--I cannot prevaricate, neither
can I dissemble. Alice knew the guilelessness and singleness of my
nature, and she should not have imposed that dreadful oath of secrecy
upon me. I would not for all the wealth of the Indies live over agai