Eppner was quick to take my ideas. A few words of explanation, and he understood perfectly what I wanted.
“You have not bought before?” It was an interrogation, not an assertion.
“Oh, yes,” I said carelessly, “but not through you, I believe.”
“No, no, I think not. I should have remembered you.”
I thought this might be a favorable opportunity to glean a little information of what was going on in the market.
“Are there any good deals in prospect?” I ventured.
I could see in the blue-black depths of his eyes that an unfavorable opinion he had conceived of my judgment was deepened by this question. There was doubtless in it the flavor of the amateur.
“We never advise our customers,” was the high-keyed reply.
“Certainly not,” I replied. “I don't want advice—merely to know what is going on.”
“Excuse me, but I never gossip. It is a rule I make.”