He soon “got the hang of it,” as he said, and was then ready to skate away with Dorothy. The Dale boys tried to keep up; but with one of his smiles into the girl’s face, Knapp suddenly all but picked her up and carried her off at a great pace over the shining, black ice.
“Oh! you take my breath!” she cried half aloud, yet clinging with delight to his arm.
“We’ll dodge the little scamps and then get down to talk,” he said. “I want to know all about it.”
“All about what?” she returned, looking at him with shy eyes and a fluttering at her heart that she was glad he could not know about.
“About this game of getting me East again. I can see your fine Italian hand in this, Miss Dale. Does your father really need my land?”
He said it bluntly, and although he smiled, Dorothy realized there was something quite serious behind his questioning.
“Well, you see, after you had left the hotel in New York, Tavia and I overheard those two awful men you agreed to sell to talking about the bargain,” she said rather stumblingly, but with earnestness.
“You did!” he exclaimed. “The sharks!”
“That is exactly what they were. They said after Stiffbold got out West he would try to beat you down in your price, although at the terms agreed upon he knew he was getting a bargain.”
“Oh-ho!” murmured Garry Knapp. “That’s the way of it, eh? They had me scared all right. I gave them an option for thirty days for a hundred dollars and they let the option run out. I was about to accept a lower price when your father’s lawyers came around.”