“‘I don’t care to do it,’ said my, father, as firmly as before.

“‘If it’s just being a little short of ready money,’ said Mr. Collenquest, ’well—­my purse is yours, you know—­from one figure to six.’

“My father only shook his head.

“‘I said fifty thousand,’ said Mr. Collenquest, ’but there is nothing to prevent your adding another naught to it.

“‘It’s speculating,’ said my father.

“‘Well, I’m sorry,’ said Mr Collenquest.  ’I’m getting pretty far into the forties now, Fred, and I don’t think the world holds anything dearer to me than a few old friends like yourself.’  He put out his hand as he spoke, and papa took it.  It was awfully affecting.  I looked as girly-girly as I could, lest they should catch me listening, and picked daisies harder than ever.

“‘Of course, this is sacredly confidential,’ said Mr. Collenquest, ‘but I know you’ll let it go no farther, Fred.’

“‘My word on that,’ said my father in his grand, gentleman-of -the-old-school way.

“Then they started to walk again, and though I felt a little sneak right down to my shoes, I listened and listened for anything more.  But they wandered off into the Pressed Steel Car Company, till it got so tiresome I ached all over.

“That night I didn’t do anything, because I wanted to think it ever; but the next morning I went to papa and asked him point-blank if I might sell Gee-whizz if I wanted go.  He looked very grave, and talked a lot about what a good horse Gee-whizz was, and how hard I’d find it to replace her.  But it was one of papa’s rules that there shouldn’t be any strings to his presents to me—­that’s the comfort of having a thoroughbred for your father, you know—­and ever since I was a little child he had always told me what was mine was mine to do just what I liked with.  He’s the whitest father a girl ever had.  But he spoke to me beautifully in a sort of man-to-man way, and was perfectly splendid in not asking any questions.  If he hadn’t been such a bubble-hater, I’d have thrown my arms round his neck and told him everything.  So I let it go at promising him the refusal of the mare in case I decided to sell her.

“Then I kited after Mr. Collenquest, whom I found in a hammock, reading a basketful of telegrams.

“‘Oh, don’t get up,’ I said (because he was always a most punctilious old fellow).  ’The fact is, I just wanted to have a little business talk with you.’

“‘Oh, a business talk,’ he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.

“‘Yes,’ I said, ’I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.’

“You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.  I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.

“He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.

“‘Little girl,’ he said, ’you’ve been listening to things you had no right to hear.’

“‘I didn’t mean to listen,’ I said.  ’Really and truly, Mr. Collenquest, I didn’t—­’