IN WHICH CONSTANCE DECIDES ON A FAIR GAME By three o'clock Johnny Gamble had acquired so much hotel information that his head seemed stuffed.

Every bright-eyed financier in the city had nursed the happy thought of a terminal hotel and had made tentative plans--and had jerked back with quivering tentacles; for all the property in that neighborhood was about a thousand degrees Fahrenheit.
The present increase of value and that of the next half-century had been gleefully anticipated, and the fortunate possessor of a ninety-nine-year lease on a peanut stand felt that he was providing handsomely for his grandchildren.
Mr.Gamble detailed these depressing facts to his friend Loring with much vigor and picturesqueness.
"The trouble with New York is that everybody wants to collect the profits that are going to be made," Loring sagely concluded.
"It's the only way they can get even," Johnny informed him.

"Well, that's the regular handicap.

Guess I'll have to take it." "You don't mean to try to promote a hotel against such inflated values!" protested Loring.
"Why not ?" returned Johnny.

"That section has to have a hotel.