"This county wan't big enough for the other feller an' me, so he had to go; it ain't big enough to-day for you an' me, but this time, I'm a-goin', whether you stay in it or _under_ it." At the word "under" Uncle Jap's Lily nudged me. I looked at her. Her face was radiant. Her delight in her husband at such a moment, her conviction that he was master of the situation, that he had regained by this audacious move all the prestige which he had in her estimation, lost--these things rejuvenated her. "It's a question of dollars, of course?" "That's it. Before you ask for credit with the angel Gabriel, you've got to squar' up with Jaspar Panel." "With the dear Lord's help, Jaspar has found a way," whispered the joyful voice in my ear. "How much?" demanded Leveson. His colour was coming back. "We've got to figger on that. Take a pencil an' paper an' sit down." "This is ridiculous." "Sit down, you----" Nathaniel Leveson sat down. The vestry had been used by the contractor as an office; the plain deal table was littered with scraps of paper. Leveson took out a gold pencil-case. "Married man, ain't ye?" said Uncle Jap, with seeming irrelevance. "Yes." "Ever give your wife a ti-airy: diamond crown, sorter?" "What the----" "Answer--_quick!_" "Yes." "What did ye pay for it? _Quick!_" "Ten thousand dollars." "Put that down first." The joy and gladness had entirely melted out of Mrs. Panel's thin voice as she whispered dole-fully to me: "Jaspar _is_ crazy, after all." "No, he isn't," I whispered back. Jaspar continued in a mild voice: "What does a way-up outfit o' lady's clothes cost: sealskin sacques, satins, the best of everything outside and in?" "I don't know." "You've got to figger it out--_quick!_" "Say ten thousand, more or less." "Put down fifteen; I'd jest as lief it was more 'n less. Put down a hundred dollars fer me, I mean to hev a good suit o' clothes myself. What does that come to?" "Twenty-five thousand, one hundred dollars. Aren't you wasting time, Mr. Panel?" "Nit. Of course if we happened to be interrupted it might be awkward fer you. If somebody should call, you'll say, of course, that yer very particularly engaged, eh?" "Yes," said Nathaniel Leveson. "To oblige me, Mr. Panel, take your finger from that trigger." "Ah? I'd ought ter hev done that before. I'd disremembered 'twas a hair trigger. Now then, put down Sunny Bushes, includin' the oil lake, at yer own figger, fifty thousand. Got it? Yas. Now then, for wear an' tear of two precious souls an' bodies--that's it! Fifty thousand more. Got it? Yas. How much now?" "One hundred and twenty-five thousand, one hundred dollars." "Right! What does a marble hall cost?" "A marble----" "You heard what I said plain enough. You live in one yerself. What did that leetle shebang on Nob Hill cost ye?" "Four hundred thousand dollars."