"It's too much. I thought it was a one-dollar bill, sir."
"I would not be mean enough to offer you only a dollar, Ralph. A man isn't pulled from a watery grave, as the poets call it, every day."
"I don't think I ought to take all this money," returned the young bridge tender slowly.
"I do, so put it into your pocket and say no more about it."
Ralph continued to argue the point, but was finally persuaded to place the bill in his private purse.
"Your mother has been telling me a little about your family affairs," went on Horace Kelsey. "It's a pity you haven't a clear title to this land about here."
"We have a clear enough title if only we can find the papers in this case," returned Ralph, promptly.
"I understand a syndicate from Chambersburgh are thinking of locating a big shoe factory here. If they do that, Westville will have a boom."
"It would have boomed long ago if it hadn't been for Squire Paget and some others. They hold their land so high and keep the taxes on the hat factory up so, the manufacturers are scared away."
"That is true, especially when other places donate them land free and exempt them from all taxation for from five to ten years."