Page:Henry rideout--The siamese cat.djvu/67

 "I may be wrong," he admitted. "And if Mr. Borkman thinks he can—"

"Oh, absolutely," boomed the courier. "Perfectly simple. It's too fine a bargain to miss."

"Then I'll take him," declared Laura quickly, opened her purse, and closed the argument.

The Chinaman grinned, by a sleight of hand passed the bank-notes apparently into his belly, and rejected the blue cats headlong into his wife's apartment. The fawn-coloured hero sat staring with ice-blue eyes, haughty and intellectual.

"Isn't he a lordly creature?" said the girl, sitting down beside him on the platform. "What shall I name him? Something that's big and dignified"—she mused—"and Siamese.…"

"Call him Chao Phya, then," suggested Owen.