"
I thought I saw danger ahead for the Man from Solano, so I hastened
to tell him that she was beset by attentions, that she could have
her pick and choice of the best of society, and finally, that she
was, most probably, engaged to Dashboard.
"That's so," he said quietly, without the slightest trace of
feeling. "It would be mighty queer if she wasn't. But I reckon
I'll steer down to the ho-tel. I don't care much for this
yellin'." (He was alluding to a cadenza of that famous cantatrice,
Signora Batti Batti.) "What's the time?"
He pulled out his watch. It was such a glaring chain, so obviously
bogus, that my eyes were fascinated by it. "You're looking at that
watch," he said; "it's purty to look at, but she don't go worth a
cent. And yet her price was $125, gold. I gobbled her up in
Chatham Street day before yesterday, where they were selling 'em
very cheap at auction."
"You have been outrageously swindled," I said, indignantly. "Watch
and chain are not worth twenty dollars."
"Are they worth fifteen?" he asked, gravely.
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