On his way to school Walter stopped to look at what he already counted a part of the home grounds. He was planning rows of trees, and gravel walks, when the owner came along and entered into conversation. Walter was ready to talk, and desirous of telling what he knew, and very early in the conversation he said, "Father means to buy this corner."
"Indeed!"
"Yes; he says he will have it at any price, for it is worth a great deal more to him than to anyone else; so he means to bid on it to-morrow."
"Well, we shall give him a chance," said the owner, laughing. And as he walked on he secretly thanked Walter for that bit of information. To Mr. Taylor's surprise, he found another apparently anxious bidder the next day, and he found himself forced either to pay an exorbitant price or relinquish the idea of becoming the owner of the lot. Before he had fully decided to do the latter, his rival stopped bidding and the lot was struck off to him at three times its real value. The former owner chuckled over what he called his "good luck," and though Mr. Taylor wondered a little, he never knew that his boy's folly in repeating a careless remark of his own, had cost him so dear in giving his unscrupulous neighbor the opportunity of taking an unfair advantage.
Another time Walter spoiled a surprise which his father and mother meant to give his sister.
"You'd better hurry home from school to-night," he said that morning as they neared the academy.
"Why?" asked Ella.
"O, nothing! only it is my advice to get home as quick as you can, and see what is going on."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll find out!"