"Is it not enough? They're poor, you told me--poor as church mice."

"Compared with you. But they have enough to live on simply, and--and
to be able to maintain such an establishment as yours, for instance,
would not add in the least degree to their happiness. On the contrary,
it is because they delight in the view and the woods and their little
garden just as they see them that they can't afford to let you have
the place." Now that the chances of a commission were slipping away
David Walker was not averse to convey in delicate language the truth
which Miss Rebecca had set forth.

Mr. Anderson felt his chin meditatively. "I seem to be up against it,"
he murmured. "You think they are not holding out for a higher figure?"
he asked shrewdly.

David shook his head. Yet he added, with the instinct of a business
man ready to nurse a forlorn hope, "There would be no harm in trying.
I don't believe, though, that you have the ghost of a chance."

The furniture king reflected a moment. "I'll walk down there this
afternoon and make their acquaintance."

"A good idea," said Walker, contented to shift the responsibility of a
second offer. "You'll find them charming--real thoroughbreds," he saw
fit to add.

"A bit top-lofty?" queried the millionaire.

"Not in the least. But they have their own standards, Mr. Anderson."