Fred examined the ceiling carefully before he spoke.
"Joe," he said, "was it a firm deal? Did you put pen to paper?"
"You-bet-your-dear-sweet-life," said Joe, scornful at the suggestion that he had omitted such an indispensable part of the negotiation.
"So did I, Joe," said Fred. "Those two ships he bought were the two Fairies."
There was a dead silence.
"Well," said Joe uneasily, after a while, "we can get a couple of ships——"
"Where, Joe? You admitted yesterday there weren't two boats in the world on the market."
Another long silence.
"I did it for the best, Fred."
Fred nodded