“Ten! Ten dollars for a perfect set of the Encyclopedia Universal! My dear sir!”
“I might give twelve,” said Ira tentatively.
The man held up his dusty hands in horror. “You’re not serious!” he protested.
“Not very, because I don’t specially want them,” replied Ira. “What else is there here?”
“But—I tell you what I will do, sir, I’ll let you have the set for—let me see, let me see—eighteen-fifty! There, I can’t offer better than that!”
“Oh, yes you can,” answered the boy cheerfully. “You can say fifteen. But I’d rather you didn’t, for I might take it, and I oughtn’t to do it.”
“Hm. You’d pay fifteen, you think?”
“Well, I might. Yes, I guess I’d fall for it at fifteen. But——”
“It’s an awful thing to do, but times are hard and—well, take it!”
“Thanks,” laughed Ira, “but they’re a little heavy to take with me. I guess you’ll have to send them to me.”