“Go on, Mr. Biggs,” says she. “I’ll see you don’t get interrupted.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Thank you a thousand times. A wonderful woman, boys. A remarkable woman. Also a remarkable man. Did he not invent a turbine that has made him rich? Eh? He did. Zadok Biggs knows well that he did. Did he not name his son Marcus Aurelius Fortunatus? Eh? He did. That was an achievement, boys. Where is another name like that? Where—”
“You’re interruptin’ yourself,” says Mrs. Tidd.
“Um,” says Zadok, making a little face. “Well, ma’am, I’m on the right track now.... I have an opportunity—an opportunity for anybody in the bazar business. Especially anybody who has to compete with a five-and-ten-cent store. The opportunity is in Sunfield. Where, you may ask, is Sunfield? It is a village not thirty miles from here.” We knew that as well as he did. “It is a little village, a pretty village. It is a village you will always think of kindly when I tell you of the opportunity that is to be found there.”
“Well, then,” says Mrs. Tidd, “why don’t you tell about it?”
Zadok swallowed hard, but he grinned and went on.
“There’s a man in Sunfield who started up a five-and-ten-cent store. Pretty store. Good stock. Nice man. Then what did he do? Why, friends, he got sick. His doctor says he must go West. He is going West. What, then, becomes of the store? It is to be sold. The owner is even now looking for a purchaser—for somebody to buy it is the more common phrase.” He stopped and beamed around at us. “There,” says he, “is the opportunity.”
Right along I’d been hoping. I thought maybe Zadok had hit on something that would help us out, but when I heard what it was my heart plopped right down into my boots. What good was the stock of a five-and-ten-cent store to us? We couldn’t buy a postage-stamp to send a letter to Sunfield, let alone a stock of goods. I looked at Mark. He didn’t look like he was disappointed. He didn’t look happy, either, but he did look thoughtful. Right off I saw he thought he could see something in it.
“How m-much does he want for it?” Mark says.
“It can be purchased cheaply. The owner must have cash. He will sacrifice. That stock must be worth close to a couple of thousand dollars. I believe, and my belief is not without foundation, that you can buy it for half of that.”