Meanwhile people were bidding forty-five cents, and Inches had called twice in one morning to ask if she would not sell at that price.
"What makes them want it so much?" she asked on the occasion of his second visit.
"Oh, just an idea they've got that it's going higher," Inches answered indifferently.
"Well, s'posing it is; why should I want to sell?"
"Why, you'd have made a pretty good thing in it, and you might like to have your bird in hand, don't you know?"
Marietta sat down to her flower-books and worked on composedly, while Inches still lingered.
"That's a real pretty painting of the Peak over there," he remarked presently, nodding his head toward a crude representation of that much-travestied mountain.
Marietta knew better, but she said nothing.
"What do you ask for that now?" he persisted.
"Oh, I guess about a hundred dollars," she returned facetiously. "The Peak comes high now-a-days, 'cause Lame Gulch is right round on the other side."