“That’s right, sir. Play with them a little before you finally hook them.”
“From what they said they want to build a station on the Croft.”
“Yes, a new passenger station, with plenty of siding accommodation.”
“Ah! you know something about it, do you?”
“I know this much, sir, that the proposal of the new company to run a fresh line into Duxley has put the old company on their mettle. In place of the dirty ram-shackle station with which we have all had to be content for so many years, they are going to give us a new station, handsome and commodious; and Prior’s Croft is the place named as the most probable site for the new terminus.”
“Hang me, if I don’t believe you knew something of this all along!” said the Squire. “If not, how could you have raised that heavy mortgage for me?”
There was a twinkle in Tom’s eyes but he said nothing. Mr. Culpepper might have been still further surprised had he known that the six thousand pounds was Tom’s own money, and that, although the mortgage was made out in another name, it was to Tom alone that he was indebted.
“Have you made up your mind as to the price you intend to ask, sir?”
“No, not yet. In fact, it was partly to consult you on that point that I sent for you.”
“Somewhere about nine thousand pounds, sir, I should think, would be a fair price.”