“No, sir. Any time within the thirty-day limit after Mr. Nesbitt has passed on the title, you or the syndicate or any other person can purchase that option for an advance of four thousand dollars over what I paid down.”
“I will consider the matter, Mr. Armstrong. Good day.”
A few days later Dick received an offer in writing from Mr. Blake, accepting his figure, contingent on Mr. Nesbitt’s assurance that Jonas Durwood could furnish a clear title and that the same would be guaranteed by the Lawyer’s Title Guarantee and Trust Company.
Dick closed with him on those terms, and a week before the option expired the delighted boy received a certified check for $5,000, and the Blake crowd closed the deal and came into possession of the property.
It was not only a red-letter day in Dick’s life, but his seventeenth birthday.
CHAPTER XVI.
A NIGHT ATTACK AND A RECOGNITION.
Dick also celebrated his seventeenth birthday by taking Jennie Nesbitt to the Empire Theatre to see a famous actress in a favorite play.
“She’s just splendid, don’t you think so?” said Jennie as they came out of the playhouse after the show.
“Fine,” coincided Dick, enthusiastically. “Do you know, Miss Jennie, this is the third time in my entire life that I have attended a theatre?”