“I am afraid my clever puss has been talking too much,” suggested Mr. Markle, when his wife told him of her having been asked to exhibit the Rembrandt.
“Oh, I can’t think it. You see, one must be natural and what more natural than to say one has a Rembrandt if it is the case?”
“That’s so! We may be moving on soon, Pet. Simpkins & Markle had a fine offer to-day for a furnished apartment, and no questions asked. This would be the very one and we could take with us all the doubtful things and still leave a costly enough place.”
“Not before the wedding, surely!” she exclaimed.
“Well, hardly, when my wife is to be matron of honor! We will be here several months longer. What is the date fixed!”
“June the twelfth! Must I give out that there is a chance of our moving?”
“Not yet, but when you do, of course you must be the abused young wife with the peculiar and mercenary husband. That is a great stunt of yours. I heard what you were saying to that young ass of a McGraw.”
“Not jealous, are you?” she asked coyly.
“Not a bit! Just more in love with you than ever. I don’t know what I’d do without such a clever wife and such a stupid business partner. Simpkins is duller than ever. He accepts everything on its face value in the firm and assists me in operating the business with never an idea in his numskull that he is not conducting a perfectly legitimate thing. Of course, we have a lot of simple deals on that any real estate firm might have and then we have this out of town rental list that I attend to as much as possible. Sometimes, though, it is up to him and he accepts it with perfectly good grace. Specializing as we do in elegantly furnished apartments brings in a class of clients with whom he is unfamiliar and they seem in a measure to overawe him into extra stupidity.”
Dorfield and the neighboring towns were suffering from the after war congested conditions quite as much as were the large cities. New industries had sprung into existence, bringing many strangers to settle in the towns. Building was high and the cost of materials was increasing every day. That was forcing up the price of real estate and quite ordinary little apartments were renting for fabulous sums. When those apartments were furnished the supposed value was doubled. And when they were furnished elegantly the agents could go as far as they liked in their demands upon the tenants.