"Why, yes," drawled Bulder, "of course, they might offer stamps to some other hardware man. But, my dear sir, think a minute—what are the value of their stamps compared to ours? Why, my good friend, you can't compare them! Every woman in town knows that Garter stamps have a higher premium value than any others."
"Exactly," replied Fellows. "By the way, what other stores have you in this town at present?"
Bulder slowly turned until he was facing Fellows. Leaning his elbow on the desk, he asked:
"Didn't I tell you that I was giving Mr. Black the opportunity to reap the big benefit of being the first with our stamps here?"
"That's funny!" I broke in impetuously, but a look from Fellows stopped me. I had been going to say that I didn't see how his last two remarks gibed; for in one breath he had said that every woman in town knew that Garter trading stamps were better, and in the next he had said that I was to reap the first big benefit of having the stamps.
Fellows had leaned forward and was saying to Bulder:
"Mr. Bulder, do you really believe it is good business to offer something for nothing?"
"Surely," cried Bulder, "you are not going to bring up that worn-out argument? Everybody knows that it is not something for nothing. . . . Look here, my good friend," said he, turning to me, "if you buy some goods and pay cash you expect a discount for paying cash, don't you?"
"Yes," I replied hesitatingly.
"Surely you do! And if you didn't get the discount for cash, you would take all the credit you could, wouldn't you? . . . Very well," he continued, without waiting for a reply, "that's what our stamps will do. They are not something for nothing. They are merely a discount for cash. People that don't pay cash don't get the stamps. . . ."