"You threw a good bluff," said Charlie, after Purkes had left.
"What do you mean—bluff?" said I, surprised. "No bluff there. I meant every word of it!"
"Even to starting a grocery business?"
"Aw, that," I said sheepishly. "It was a bit foolish because, while business is booming with us, I find that every little bit of extra profit I make has to go into stock. So, as regards actual cash, I am no better off than I was six months ago. However, bluff or no bluff, I really think we've killed the grocer's competition."
I wonder more retail merchants don't retaliate in this way on merchants in other lines who make this kind of competition. Perhaps they don't because they don't want to offend a fellow townsman. They forget, however, that their fellow townsman doesn't hesitate to offend them.
Pat Burke came into the store that afternoon and introduced himself to me, saying, "Roger Burns sent me, as he wanted me to know you."
He was a short, thick-set man, and spoke on generalities for a little while.
"How's business coming along?" I asked him.
"Very well indeed," he said.
"How did you find the business when you took it over from Stigler?"