“I shouldn’t wonder now,” said Father McCormack, “that those figures would be about right.”
“It was only the week before last,” said Doyle, “that there was a man stopping in my hotel, a man that looked as if he was earning a comfortable salary, and he——”
Doyle spoke in the tone of a man who is going to tell a long and leisurely story. Dr. O’Grady, who had heard the story before, interrupted him.
“Of course we’d have to talk to the inspector when he comes,” he said.
“You’d do that, O’Grady,” said the Major. “You’d talk to a bench of bishops.”
“I’m not sure,” said Father McCormack, “that I quite see what the doctor’s getting at.”
“It’s simple enough,” said Dr. O’Grady, “Suppose he offers us £500 for a pier—he can’t well make it less——”
“It’ll be more,” said Doyle optimistically. “It’ll be nearer a thousand pounds.”
“Say £500,” said Dr. O’Grady. “What I propose is that we spend £400 on a pier and use the other hundred to pay for the statue and the rest of the things we have to get.”
“Bedamn,” said Doyle, “but that’s great. That’s the best ever I heard.”