“Only man around the p-premises is Silas Doolittle.”
“And you stepped in to untangle things, eh? Well, young man, I shouldn’t be surprised if you did it. Where did you get your ideas of business?”
“Hain’t got many, but we got to have somethin’ to go by. Common sense tells a f-f-feller he can’t make money sellin’ for less’n cost.”
“That’s a great truth,” says Mr. Rushmore.
“How about our m-m-money?” says Mark.
“I’ll have a check for you at once. When you get around to it, let me know. We need quite a lot of spindles and will need them all this year.”
“Glad to supply ’em,” says Mark, “but not till we got our costs.”
“I’ll take a chance if you will,” says Mr. Rushmore, and I saw a twinkle come into his eye again. “I’ll raise the figures in this contract five per cent. That ought to make you come out right.”
Mark studied a minute. “No,” says he; “that wouldn’t be business for either of us. We m-m-might not be gettin’ enough, or you m-might be p-payin’ too much. The only way is to be f-f-fair to both parties. We want you satisfied as well as us.”
“Son,” says Mr. Rushmore, “you’ll get along. That’s a business principle that will bring success. The satisfied customer is the valuable customer. Stick to it.”