“I bought it,” said Joshua, in a tone of importance. “I made a pretty good bargain, too.”

“At what jeweler’s shop did you buy it?” asked Sam, rather vexed that Joshua should have made so important a purchase without consulting him. If any money was to be spent, he wanted to have something to do with it.

“I didn’t buy it at any jeweler’s,” answered Joshua. “If I had, I couldn’t have got it so cheap.”

“Didn’t buy it at a jeweler’s!” repeated Sam, suspiciously. “Where did you buy it, then?”

“I bought it of a man I met in Central Park.”

“A man you knew?”

“No; a stranger--a man from the country.”

“Let me see the watch,” said Sam, abruptly.

He took it in his hands, and looked at it, but, not being a professional, he could not tell whether it was genuine or not.

“I shouldn’t wonder if you had got swindled,” he said, handing it back. “How much did you pay for it?”