"That's what I am. I don't feel very hopeful about it though. I am about to the limit, I guess."
The world's record for a man to stay under water, holding his breath, is four minutes and thirty-seven seconds. Joe was several seconds short of that, but he was ambitious.
It was about a week after this that one day, as Joe and Helen were walking around town after the afternoon performance, Helen paused in front of a furrier's. In the window were fur coats, an advance showing of fall and winter styles, for the summer was passing and already merchants were preparing for the winter's trade.
"That's something I must get," Helen said. "A fur coat. I've been wanting one a long while, and now that I have my inheritance I feel I can afford it. My old one is about worn out."
"I'd like a fur-lined overcoat myself," Joe said.
"Why don't you get it?" asked Helen.
"Can't afford to," was Joe's reply. "I have other uses for my money."
Helen looked at him curiously, and there was a worried look on her face that Joe did not notice.
"I wonder," mused Helen. "I wonder——"
But she did not finish her thought.