I wondered if other retail merchants had just these same little problems to solve that I had. I wondered if, in a case like this one, they would have ever thought of suggesting to their customers that they get some friends to buy an article or two occasionally, and compare the prices with those they were charged. . . . I knew the episode wouldn't make Stigler love me any more, for the Sturtevant business amounted to quite a lot. That one order that Miriam Rooney had bought of Stigler had been eighteen dollars' worth.

CHAPTER XXIX

STIGLER RUNS AMUCK

About this time Betty was taken sick, so that I used to go into the elite Restaurant for my lunches. This was a place frequented by a number of business men. Stigler was in there one day when I got in, talking with some of the people who regularly dined there. If ours wasn't a dry town, I should have said that Stigler had been drinking; for, the minute he saw me, he flushed, and an ugly expression came into his face.

"There he is," he cried to his friends, pointing at me, and he spoke in a voice loud enough for me and everybody else in the place to hear.

"There he is! A pretty little chap he is--oh, so nice that he is!--to stab his compet.i.tor in the back. D--d young whelp!" he said _to_ his friends, but _at_ me. "What do yer think of a feller that goes behind yer back to hurt yer character? I'd sooner a feller'd come out in the open and fight. D--d character a.s.sa.s.sin!"

His friends looked rather embarra.s.sed. I sat down at the table, apparently not paying the least attention to him, but my head was in a whirl. Then I gave my order to Kitty. I suppose Kitty had another name, but everybody knew her as Kitty. She was a pretty little Irish girl, who had come to our town about five years ago, n.o.body knew from where. Old Collier, the big, fat, kindly old Frenchman who ran the place, at once had given her a job. He was too big-hearted to inquire why she came by herself and why her eyes showed signs of sleeplessness and weeping. He not only gave her a job, but, in a few weeks, had taken her into the family. She at first became known jokingly as Kitty Collier, and soon everybody thought of her by that name. She thought the whole universe revolved around genial old Pierre, who really regarded her as he would his own daughter.

When Kitty first came into the town Betty at once had become her friend; and in fact Betty had been quite severely criticized for making a friend of a girl whose character was unknown. Kitty thought a lot of Betty and, in consequence, of me also.

"I'll bring ye some nice steak," said Kitty with her pretty brogue, and un.o.btrusively patted my back. She sensed the unhappy position I was in.

When she came back, Stigler was saying in a loud voice: "There are some people--and their name ain't White, either--that ought to be ridden out o' town!"

Crash! Kitty had dropped her plate, and, to the surprise of every one--especially to me,--she walked over to where Stigler was sitting, gave his hair a vigorous pull, and said:

"Arrah, now, ye dir-rty blackguard, ye're not a gintleman yerself, an'

ye doan't know one, if ye see one. Mr. Black, there, is too much of gintleman to sile his hands on the likes o' you, but _I'm not_!" and with that she gave him a resounding box on the ear.

Stigler jumped up with an oath, while old Pierre ran from behind the counter; Stigler, black with rage, Pierre almost crying with vexation.

Stigler caught Kitty by the arm and angrily swung her around, and then--I forgot myself. I rushed at him and caught him fairly under the jaw. He fell back among the tables; and then some people caught hold of us, and held us both back. Finally Stigler walked out of the restaurant, without another word, while I sat down at the table to eat my steak; but I was trembling all over with the excitement and could eat nothing.

I felt that there was nothing I wouldn't do to be able to run Stigler out of the town. Why he should be so bitter against me I didn't know, unless it was that my business was slowly growing. Of course he had been fond of Betty, but surely he was all over that.

Old Barlow came over to the store, having heard of the fracas.

"Look here, Black," he said, "I want you to forget that fracas. Forget Stigler as much as you can. If you see him, don't speak to him; but just drive ahead and 'saw wood.' If he likes to waste his energies in thinking up ways of getting revenge, why, let him do so. Just keep your attention on your business and you'll have a successful business when he is forgotten. No man can build a successful business on spite. No man can increase his bank account while he's trying to make his business a weapon to secure revenge against some one else. I have seen so many business men spoil themselves because they began to worry over compet.i.tion, and, instead of just seeing how they could improve their methods of business they spent good time in seeing how they could fight one individual compet.i.tor. Success to-day isn't made by downing the other fellow, but by building up one's own efficiency in business methods. There's room for you and Stigler and me in this town--in fact,"

he said with a smile, "we are going to have a little more compet.i.tion yet."

"Where?" I asked, surprised.

"In Macey Street."

Macey Street was a busy little street connecting High and Main.

"Who is it?"

"I don't know; but I understand it's one of a chain of stores."

"What kind of goods are they going to handle?"

"Kitchen goods, same as you."

"H'm," I said with a grin, "I guess I'll have to go into the agricultural implements business and compete with you!"

"Go to it! Good luck to you!" But he knew that I couldn't do that, for I hadn't the money to put in the necessary stock; and, besides, Mr. Barlow had had that business for years.

When I told the Mater about it, she replied: "It seems to me unreasonable to say that, because Mr. Barlow has had that business for years, you should avoid it; but I really hope you won't try for it, because Mr. Barlow is such a good friend of yours, and his friendship and the help which he has given you is worth more to you than what you might earn from selling those goods. If you did, he might retaliate and sell electrical goods, and, you know, you are getting quite a name for those."

It was a fact; we _were_ selling quite a lot of electrical goods--indeed, I believed we were going to build up a very substantial business in them before long. I was thinking of making a special department of them, and hiring a girl to be in charge of it. I knew that many people would think it funny to have a girl in a hardware store, but, just the same, I had a hunch that a girl could handle that kind of goods better than a man.

CHAPTER x.x.x

NEW TROUBLES

Betty had become seriously ill. The doctor said she ought to go South until spring, and then take a sea voyage. I told him I didn't know where the money was coming from to do it; but the Mater reminded me that Aunt Hannah lived in Birmingham. The doctor said that would be better than up here for the time being, so the Mater wrote at once to Aunt Hannah to see if Betty could go and stay with her for a while. I would shut up the house and live with the Mater until Betty came back.

I had not yet been able to pay all the monthly bills. I had bought those toys in New York on a ten-day cash basis, so I was hard up. When I went to the bank to try to borrow $500.00 Blickens had turned me down. He had said: "You're right in the busiest time of the year now. A few days should give you all the money you need. If you can't carry yourself without the aid of the bank now, you never can."

Then, to cap the whole thing, I had received a letter from Barrington saying he'd like me to pay that $1,250.00 note, secured by a mortgage on my farm. I went to his office, and he said he wanted the thing closed up right away. It was a demand note, because, when we fixed it up, Barrington had said he wanted it to run an indeterminate time. I had expected he would carry it indefinitely, but there it was--he said he had a sudden call for the money and wanted me to pay it off.

I had caught a very bad cold, and if I had not been boss I'd have taken a good vacation. One day I went to the store, but had to come home early, I felt so sick. Jones, too, was out the same day--worse luck. His mother had called up in the morning, saying he had caught a bit of a cold, and she thought it would be much better for him to stay home till he was well. I almost wished I were a clerk for a little while, then perhaps I could stay at home and get a rest. I really felt very ill. My head was splitting.

I wonder if clerks realize how often the Boss has to work when he feels sick? Most bosses, I guess, have that feeling of responsibility for the business and the employees that I always have had, and that keeps them working when they'd be at home if they didn't have that responsibility.

I remember one of the fellows who worked with me at Barlow's used to complain that Barlow got all the profit, while we got all the work--and I agreed with him at the time, poor fool that I was. We never thought that Barlow had all his money invested in the business that was providing us with a certain living. We never stopped to think that we were sure to get our money every week, whatever happened, but that Barlow had to take a chance on anything that was left. We never thought about the worry and responsibility.

I don't want to forget the workers' side of a business deal, but I never realized so much as I did then how unjust most employees are to their boss. I know many bosses are unjust to their employees and perhaps the boss is princ.i.p.ally to blame for it, but just take my case: There was Jones threatened with a cold, so he stayed home when he could have been working just as well as not. He knew he was going to get his money on Sat.u.r.day, anyway. But I was so sick I could hardly think logically; and I had to go down to the store and work.

Stigler had put on a big sale of Christmas novelties. He had bought a lot of indoor parlor games. I hadn't bought any of those; and he had a line of calendars and Christmas cards. I had never thought of putting them in. The drug store had a big stock of them, though.

Stigler was advertising extensively and was pretty busy at both the five-and-ten-cent store and at the hardware store opposite. He seemed to be doing more business than usual. Since we had had the sc.r.a.p in the elite Restaurant he had been quite polite, but somehow I feared him more than ever before. He seemed to have a cold hatred of me, and he was always going out of his way to spoil any adventure in special sales that I made.

Toys had been going very slowly with me. I had wanted to get Fellows of the Flaxon Advertising Agency to write up some ads on toys for me, but he was in the hospital, being operated on for appendicitis. I didn't know what to do.

As soon as she received the Mater's letter Aunt Hannah had telegraphed, saying she'd be delighted to have Betty visit her, and asking if I couldn't come as well. Of course I could not go, but the doctor said that Betty was well enough to travel, so it was decided that the Mater should go down with her to stay for a week or so while I looked after the house. I planned to have all my meals at the elite Restaurant.

The day after they left I was so ill that I had to spend the whole day in the house. La.r.s.en came around at lunch time and said he'd written up an ad on toys and had put it in the papers.

"We can't afford any money for ads," I said peevishly.

"Done now, Boss, anyhow. Don't you worry--we had quite a good day yesterday. Going to have another one to-day. You stay right in bed until you are well. We'll look after things there."

La.r.s.en was a good sort. I saw his ad in the paper. It read like this:

SOMETHING THAT MOVES