"'I will show you what we have.'
"They looked through a wonderful assortment of men's clothing, but our reporter saw none exactly similar to the pattern he wished to identify.
"'Was it a suit for a large or a small man?' inquired the manager.
"'For a small man; almost what you would call a youth's suit.'
"'What you have seen is principally our new stock; we have some others which our salesmen endeavor to get rid of; we don't like to keep old stock too long on our hands.'
"They went through other departments, and at length, on one of the upper shelves, our reporter pointed to a pattern he thought he recognized.
"'That seems to be it. I shall know on a closer inspection.'
"The suit was taken down, and our reporter saw that he had reached the first stage of his inquiry.
"'This is the pattern,' he said.
"'It narrows the matter,' said the manager. 'There is only this one suit left of this particular pattern. Three weeks ago there were two, so that within that time one has been sold. The salesman in this department is a man with a good memory.'