"Well, you've already pulled his teeth, haven't you? This little purchase of yours knocks the wind out of his sails in any event." "I wish I could be sure of that." "And, by the way, that reminds me. Of course I'm in on this, you understand--on what you paid for the _Gazette_." "Not on my account," said Peter frankly. "When this town starts booming, as it will in eight days from date--Higginson had that part of it right, anyway--the _Gazette's_ going to be the prettiest little property you ever saw in your life. I saw it first and you will kindly back away off the grass. By the bye," he went on, "the lunch to-morrow. Hare and his sister both accepted--two o'clock. You ought to have seen Hare's face when I told him we owned this little old _Gazette_. Worth the price of admission alone--he'd been hot as a stove all day about that story this morning. I asked Mrs. Marne whether Miss Carstairs had happened to say anything about coming, but she hadn't seen her to-day at all. I guess there won't be any trouble in that quarter, though, when she gets through reading the paper's apologies to-morrow." "I don't know," said Varney. "I am going to her house to-night to find out." "Why?" said Peter, surprised. "What do you think we bought this paper for, anyway?" "The great trouble is that she may not believe the paper. This is important, you see. The whole thing hinges on whether or not she is coming to lunch with us. The only way I can be certain that she is coming is to have her tell me so." Peter jingled his keys. "Of course, we don't want to take chances, but--" "Another thing," said Varney. "She promised to lunch with Stanhope--the celebrity--not me, you know." "H'm," said Peter cogitatively, and added: "I guess you're right. I'm sure everything's all serene, but it'll do no harm to press a call. Well! I must fly upstairs for a while and see how things are going." "What about the _Daily?_" "That's what I've got to do right now--settle the _Daily_ and dictate a strong _Gazette_ story for to-morrow's issue, stripping the socks off the Stanhope lie and all that. I've got to show the boys upstairs exactly how we want the whole thing, handled." "Fire away, old top." "It's all sketched out in my mind," continued Peter, rising. "Did it at the hotel over my chuck-steak. I won't be long. You wait here for me, will you? I've chartered an automobile for a week and I'll run you up to the Carstairs house and wait outside till you're ready to go back to the yacht." "Why these civilities, my son?"