As soon as I got into his store he beckoned me to the rear.
"Say, Black, you've got some vacuum cleaners," he said; "I'm not handling those things, and I wish you'd send one up to the wife. She's always said she wanted one. I'll pay you now—how much?"
I told him the cost price and suggested that he pay me ten per cent. over that, which he said was perfectly agreeable.
Then he said, "I couldn't help laughing the other day. Martin seemed to be quite worried."
"Worried? What about? He was all right last night."
"I don't mean Charlie; I mean Bill Martin, who runs the garage. It seems somebody said that the Martin who is with you is contemplating getting into the garage business, and Billy Martin thinks that the confusion of names will take a lot of business away from him."
"Who on earth said a thing like that?" I laughed.
"Oh, you know how these rumors get started. They start from nowhere and they carry on indefinitely. The best thing, of course, is to ignore anything like that."
"Funny that the name should be just the same, isn't it? Especially when we—"
He put a warning finger to his lips and then I remembered my promise not to mention to any one our coming deal in automobile accessories and gasoline.