“Very true, but she would get some money down for the house, over and above the mortgage.”
“I don't know as anybody would want to buy it,” said Mrs. Carter.
“I would take it off your hands, simply to oblige you,” said the squire, with an air of extraordinary consideration. “I don't know that it would be of any particular use to me. I might not get a tenant. Still, I am better able to take the risk than you are to keep it.”
“How much would you be willing to pay for it?” asked Herbert, who somehow suspected that the squire was more selfish than benevolent in the plan he had broached.
“Why,” said Squire Leech, assuming a meditative look, “over and above the mortgage, I would be willing to pay three hundred dollars cash.”
“That would make the value of the place only ten hundred and fifty dollars,” said Herbert.
“Well, you don't consider it worth any more than that do you?”
“My husband considered it worth fifteen hundred dollars,” said the widow. “It cost him that.”
The squire laughed heartily. “Really, my dear madam, that is utterly preposterous. Fifteen hundred dollars! Why, that is ridiculous.”
“It cost that,” said Herbert, sturdily.