Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-12

| W Ilkht uOW' -
You want me to read you th'
"Read nothing! Tell me. Outline
the case, showing just what steps hav'
been taken"
He wasn't at all certain why she de
manded this; he knew that she had
every point at the tip Of her acetic
tongue, for he had heard her talk with
Bond he had the suspicion that sh,
wanted to see II he was q fool or had
a spark Of intelligence. He kept hi'
eyes upon her, not once referring to the
orderly papers which he had brought
fiom her safe,
Last fall" he began then, speak.
ing quite as though he were recitinS q
lesson to an exnctins teacher, you be-
came for the first time interested In olive
growing. That was in September. You
Immediately wrote to Washington and
to Sacramento .n for . government n,,t reports ports
soil experts. Encouraged by what you
learned you brought an olive expert
into the valley. That was In October.
Before he had gone out again you had
sent for a second expert. From the
reports of both you decided to plant
olive trees along the western edge OF the
valley. You had Haddon look up the
property there and learned that the
land you wanted, a thousand acres, be-
longcd TO FIVE men, each holding q hun
dred and sixty acres, and to halt dozen
small owners. You had Haddon offer
forty dollars an acre for the thousand
acres. Haddon brought back the report
that Arnold Bond had evidently learned
that you were interested, that he had
been before you, that he had taken
| .l khoN 10 aoktn2 Aftx,
dollars an acre for the same land"
"What he was doing" she supple
mcntcd dryly, was trying to beat me
out Of ten thousand dollars! Me I!
Go on"
"You took into your own hands the
negotiations with Bond in December.
| Your letter." and he grinned at her,
Twas brief and to the point.
"You offered him $40 an acre and as
sured him that you would never pay u
cent more. Bonds answer was rather
,ong IN coming. a couple Of weeks.
During which he was doing some
mighty hard thinking! He's fool,
that Arnold Bond"
"And when II came said that he re-
gretted to inform you that the price
Of olive lands had gone up in the mean
time. And that you'd have to pay
him $50 the acre IL you wanted tc
buy" .,
ing 1t was $65. The dirty 49, Httlt
bloodsucker!" .
"He hasn't got any blood yet.
'aughed Ashe. 7'Your letter in answe,
inform Mr.. Bond that he has been mis-
informed and that the price Of DIV
lands has suddenly fallen to $50 Al
acre. That was at the end OF De
cember. There was no answer to tina
letter. I have q note here. however
in Graham's handwriting. saying tina
Bond went ahead and gathered In hi
options Of the five quarter sections
buying at an average q little below
S25. Also that he was still holding a
option upon the smaller places"
Twenty five dollars an acre.r medi
tated the old woman. her chin at res
upon her hands claspcd about the knobb
end Of her stick. Twenty five thou
sand dollars in all: 49, HIM. "elF
"Your letter Of January 10. callin
to Mr.. Bonds attention the fact tha
olive lands were still depreciatins y
value and that you now row. oitersd -
"WeI, what next?'
1T find no letters after that. s.
far as know the next attempt at ne
gotiations was when you had Mr.. Bon
here last month. l believe that at tina
time you accused him of sharp busi
ness; that he said that he had studies
your past successful methods with grea
interest and T."
"That will do." she cut him short
| "Take a letter.
Dear Mr.. Bond" said the letter
, Concerning the lands upon the. ives
rim Of the valley about which we hav
spoken before: 1t gives me great pleas
ure to inform you that have decide,
to take them over. will pay you $i'
an acre for them. Not one cent NOR
, now or later. Respectfully. ."
"Ten dollars?" asked Ashe, curl
"Ten dollars" she snapped. ''Csl
, him up. Yes, right now"
Getting Bond on the telephone Ash
"This is Mr.. Steele. Mrs. stetherir
secretary. Just a moment. 800"
"Tell him." she said quickly. "tha
I am making him ms final offer BY let
ter today. Tell him that mean busi
ness. II he doesn't accept 1t exactl.
} as make 1t and INSIDE OF twenty -fou
! hours, I'm going after him. III smssl
him IL 1t costs me q million! III pu
, him where he'll be glad to get q jol
working in my garden! Drat the man
l hate a fool !"
Mrs. Stetheril wishes me TO .say,'
said Ashe gravely into the transmitter
that she Is now mailing, you her tna
offer for those olive lands. That an
gives you twenty -four hours to accep
that offer just as 1t Is made, ~.
! THAT IL you fail to accept In thu
J time she is going to smash you III !
l.costs a" million that she'll put ",
where you'll be glad 70 get q, Job work
: ing in her garden. That's ALL %
9 iieye:" :,.,, sx.....r .,
unkindly. III Haddonr or that tdio
Graham had been giving that messas :
they'd have spoiled 1t getting IL mt
!, me. young man, aud when you want
) thing 20 after, Il the shortest way
,1 And" sharply again, "don't ever BIT
of a chunk too big for you like Bond
trying to do. You watch the way
!, handle him and you'll learn something
Just because. I'm an old, quarrelsom
e1 woman don't you think for minut
. l cant show you anything. There's
brains, and AM !. Oh, IT'S you. is it?'
I She whirled about In her chair, gisrin
Mt the intruder. 1t was Haddon. enter
ing quietly. "What are you snoopin
around for? II there IL one thing In tn
world I can't tolerate It's a snooper
What do you want?"
v Since early morning Ashe, In spit
n OF his pronounced preoccupation, ha