“He came about the mortgage.”
“Did he want to pay it?”
“No, he wants me to renew it.”
“Of course you refused.”
“Of course I did no such thing. Do you think I am a fool?”
“You don't mean to say that you agreed to renew it?” demanded John, in angry amazement.
Squire Haynes rather enjoyed John's mystification.
“Come,” said he, “I'm afraid you'll never make a lawyer if you're not sharper than that comes to. Never reveal your plans to your adversary. That's an important principle. If I had refused, he would have gone to work, and in ten days between now and the first of July, he'd have managed in some way to scrape together the eight hundred dollars. He's got half of it now.”
“What did you tell him, then?”
“I put him off by telling him not to trouble himself—that I would not foreclose the mortgage unless I had unexpected occasion for the money.”