Winter

The defendant is the owner of certain real property in Lake County. Early in 1927 the parties to the action and Fred T. Winter entered into negotiations for the sale and purchase of the property. On February 1st of that year a written agreement was drawn setting forth the terms of sale, in which the defendant was named as vendor and the plaintiff and Fred T. Winter, his brother, as vendees. The writing was signed by the plaintiff and the defendant, but not by Fred T. Winter. The terms of sale were $4,000, payable $250 in cash, a like sum on August 1, 1927, and the balance in semi-annual payments of the same amount, with interest. The writing further stipulated that upon the payment of the purchase price, with interest, the property should be conveyed to the vendees, but upon default in the payment of any installment of principal or interest, time being of the essence, all sums theretofore paid should, at the option of the vendor, be forfeited and retained by her as liquidated damages, in which event it was provided that “this agreement shall then become and be absolutely void and of no effect.”

It appears that the plaintiff on February 1, 1927, paid to the defendant the sum of…