“He will take two hundred less. It is a ridiculously low price.”
“Of course it is,” Will agreed. “But shipping at present is a drug in the market, and this ship is practically fit for nothing but a yacht or the Levant trade. I expect I could get her a couple of hundred pounds cheaper if I held off. What do you think, Horace?”
“I don’t think it would be fair to knock down the price lower than that,” Horace said.
“It is fair to get a thing as cheap as you can. If you try to get it for less than he will sell it for you don’t get it, that is all. He is not obliged to sell, and you are not obliged to buy. Still, the price is a very reasonable one, and we will take her at that. You have full authority to sell, I suppose, without reference to your principal?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, then, we will go to your office. Mr. Beveridge will give you a cheque for thirteen hundred pounds, and you shall hand over possession.”
“Good. It is eleven o’clock now, Johnson,” he said to the care-taker. “Here is your money up to to-night, but from twelve o’clock to-day Mr. Martyn takes possession as agent for the owners, so you will take your orders from him.”
“You can go on as usual,” Will said. “We will pay you from twelve o’clock, so you will make a half-day’s pay by the change.”