"I just wanted to know."
"Is that all?"
"Well, it is and it is not," she said, with a shrewd, good-natured smile.
"Since we are talking, I might as well ask you if you would not care to take a look at a couple of new houses in East New York."
I did not interrupt her and she proceeded to describe the houses and the bargain they represented
When she finally paused for my answer and I perpetrated a labored witticism about her "peddling real estate in street-cars" she flared up: "Why not? Is it anything to be ashamed of or to hide? Did I steal those houses? I can assure you I paid good money for them. So why should I be afraid to speak about them? And when I say it is a bargain, I mean it. That, too, I can say aloud and to everybody in the world, because it is the truth, the holy truth. May I not live to see my children again if it is not.
There!" After a pause she resumed: "Well?"
I made no reply
"Will you come along and see the houses? It is not far from here."
"I have no time."