“What’s the use of talking that way?” said Doyle. “Hasn’t the Government built us two piers already, and is it likely they’d build us another?”
“That’s not the point. What I’m asking you is: Supposing they did build another and you got the contract for it, how much do you suppose you’d make?”
“Well,” said Doyle, “if it was a good-sized pier and if the engineer they sent down to inspect the work wasn’t too smart altogether I might clear £100.”
“Now, suppose,” said Dr. O’Grady, “that you were able to sell the stones of that old mill of yours——”
“They’re good stones, so they are.”
“Exactly, and you’d expect a good price for them. Now suppose you succeeded in selling them to the Government as raw material for the pier——”
“They’d be nice and handy for the work,” said Doyle. “Whoever was to use those stones for building the pier would save a devil of a lot of expense in carting.”
“That, of course, would be considered in fixing the price of the stones.”
“It would,” said Doyle. “It would have to be, for I wouldn’t sell them without it was.”
“Under those circumstances,” said Dr. O’Grady, “what do you suppose you’d make?”