"Taylor!" says I. "Taylor! My soul and body! The old skinflint beat us again! Well, I swan!"
"Um-hm," says he. "I size it up like this. He saw us come out of there the other day and guessed that we thought of buyin' and movin'. So, as he owed us a grudge, and because the Watson property is, as you said, a good investment anyhow, he makes his option offer on the jump, and beat me to it."
I whistled. "I cal'late you've hit the nailhead, Jim," says I. "Well, to be free and frank, I'm glad of it."
"So am I," says he.
That was a staggerer. I whirled round and looked at him.
"You are?" I sung out.
"Yes," says he, "I am. Of course I had my heart set on gettin' that 'Palace' for an addition that would give more room and extry space to our place here; and the only way I could see to get it was to take up with that Rat's proposition. I haven't any prejudice against billiards—"
"Neither have I, but—"
"I know. And you're right. Old lady Watson has, and to run Foster's establishment in on her would have been a low-down mean trick. I've felt like a thief, but I was so pig-headed I wouldn't back down. Now that I've got it where the chicken got his, I'm glad of it, I really am. Partner, will you forget my meanness and shake hands?"
Would I? I was as tickled as a youngster with a new tin whistle. And so was he.