"You can whistle for this site. It belongs to Ebenezer Brown," he said.
"Ebenezer Brown has his price, I presume," remarked Father Healy.
"He will sell this land—to an ordinary man—for twice its real value. To you he will not sell at any price."
"He shall have his price—from you. It will be worth four times its real value in a few years. Go and buy the land."
Thus was the site acquired, to the great indignation and consternation of the late owner.
"I might have named my own price if I had known who wanted it," he growled.
"You named your price, exactly double the true value," answered the agent.
"I could have got four times, six times, the real value, if you had dropped a hint. I have been robbed."
"Robbed!" cried the agent. "That would be a reversal of the ordinary routine. You old villain!" he added, as Ebenezer Brown walked out of his shop.
The old man was wealthy, and a miser, each of which characteristics may be corollary to the other. He made money by saving it; he saved it because he loved it. Many things he had achieved by strategy. The "Grey Town Observer," at one time the property of Michael O'Connor, was now Ebenezer Brown's, won by usury. The late owner, a careless man, was content to continue as editor, and thus serve the man who had robbed him. He was sufficiently shrewd to recognise his employer's character, yet at once too easy going and honest to prove other than a good servant. But he held, and always expressed, a heartfelt contempt for his master.