Part 54 (1/2)

CHAPTER XLIII

MARTIN SPRINGS A SURPRISE

The next week I went with Charlie Martin and Fred Barlow to Boston to buy the automobile accessories which we had decided upon when old man Barlow and I had fixed up that gasoline deal.

He had come to the house one evening and suggested it was time to get busy.

”Fred knows the automobile business thoroughly--and Charlie is well up on it also,” said Barlow, ”so I would suggest that, as I have to put up the money, if necessary, on what you buy, you let Fred and Charlie go with you. Their knowledge should be helpful to you.”

”That's a good idea,” I agreed; ”we'll go next Monday.”

”I'll tell Fred to be ready to go with you then,” Barlow said. He was silent for a minute, then he went on, ”Fred has to buy a lot of automobile accessories for his people, so perhaps, by pooling his and your orders, you can get prices shaved a bit.”

I looked up with surprise. ”I thought Fred had left his Detroit people.”

”He has,” said Barlow, abruptly, ”but he has made new connections recently.”

I wanted to ask what they were, but Barlow's att.i.tude warned me not to.

So, the three of us went to Boston and bought a complete stock of automobile accessories. I followed Fred Barlow's lead, for he certainly was familiar with the goods.

The next day the men came to make arrangements for putting in the gas tank. While they were measuring the pavement, and deciding just where to fix the pump, Stigler happened along.

”Morning, Stigler,” I said, with an attempt at joviality; ”how's business?”

”Fine,” he responded. ”How's bread mixers going?” He sneered as he spoke, and I felt myself getting mad.

”So, so,” I replied--then, in an attempt to equal up the score, I added, ”Too bad your five-and-ten-cent store proved such a fizzle!”

He turned sharply on me and snarled, ”You keep yer d.a.m.ned tongue still when yer see me. I don't let whelps like you talk 'big' to me and get away with it, savvy?”

Without another word he walked away, leaving me taut and trembling with agitation.

I had been given to understand that Stigler's plan of continual price cutting had cut his profits to the vanis.h.i.+ng point. He had brooded over it so much that it had become a mania with him. Unfortunately, he held me responsible for his troubles.

I told Betty about it as a good joke on Stigler, but she didn't laugh, instead she said gravely, ”Leave that man alone, my dear; he is dangerous. Don't pick quarrels with him, or you may come to blows, or worse. Remember, dearest, that I need you more than ever--now.”

How dear she was, and how brave and happy she kept while waiting--I could not let her have anything to worry about until after.

Charlie Martin had asked if he could come around to the house that evening, and, of course, I had said, ”Yes.”

Charlie had grown to be one of us almost, and I hardly realized how much I had come to depend on him until the thought of losing him occurred to me.

I don't know how I had happened to get into the habit of looking upon Charlie as a fixture with me. I knew his people were fairly well to do, and that the eight dollars a week I paid him were a mere bagatelle toward his living expenses. One gets into the habit, however, of accepting things on surface evidence, until one loses sight of the motive which is at the back of the evidence. For instance, if I had thought a bit, I would have known Charlie hadn't worked for eight dollars a week just because he needed a job.

One thing it taught me was that I must not confuse the apparent with the real. Thereafter, whenever a man said anything to me, I remembered that there was a motive at the back of what he said, and that if I was going to understand other people I must understand the motive which impelled their action. For instance, I knew that, when a man came in to buy a saw from me, he had a reason for buying that saw. The more I knew of his reason for buying it, the more able I was to sell him just what he wanted.

If a man put up a business proposition to me which looked good for me I remembered that it was not for me that he was doing it. I was not the reason which impelled him to give me a good deal. It was something which he eventually was going to get out of it himself. So I said to myself, ”Why does he want to do this for me?” And if I could not find a good logical reason I left it alone until I could.