"I've been thinking it over, ma'am. There isn't room for two of us here. I might make it seventeen thousand five hundred, if—"
"Fifteen! No more."
There came a signal from the steamer in the offing; the Countess extended her hand to Pierce.
"Good-by! If you're still here three weeks from now you may be able to help me." Then she joined the procession up the gang-plank.
But the hotel-keeper halted her. "Fifteen is a go!" he said, angrily.
The Countess Courteau stepped back out of the line. "Very well. Make out the bill of sale. I'll meet you at Healy & Wilson's in ten minutes."
A moment later she smiled at Pierce and heaved a sigh of relief.
"Well, I brought him to time, didn't I? I'd never have gone aboard. I'd have paid him twenty-five thousand dollars, as a matter of fact, but he hadn't sense enough to see it. I knew I had him when he followed me down here."
"What have you bought?"
"That hotel yonder—all but the lumber."