"May 1st," he replied.
"Say," I exclaimed, sitting up straight, "then all those goods Fred and you bought while with me in Boston are really for your store here?"
"Yes."
"Well, why didn't you or Barlow say something about it?"
"Look here, Dawson, we can trust you to the last gun shot; but, if one wants to keep a thing quiet the best way is to tell nobody, for if he starts to tell one, before he knows it he is telling some one else, and his plans may be frustrated before he has a chance of putting them into operation."
"Why bother to tell me about it all, then?" And then another distressing thought occurred to me. "Look here, Charlie, this is going to hurt me. If you have a man going around selling hardware he is going to upset Larsen on his weekly trips to get business. Then, what's the good of my having accessories, if you are fighting me all the time?"
The more I thought about it the more alarming it became.
"I'm going to see old Barlow first thing in the morning." I felt my temper rising. "I am going to tell him to keep his old gas tank. I won't have it; and as for those accessories, I'll return them right away. You're not going to use me as a cat's-paw in your business, and you and Barlow can go—"
"Oh, shut up!" said Charlie, sharply. "Look here, Dawson, old man Barlow never did anything to hurt you, and is not going to now. Fred and I think too much of you. In fact, we want you to help us and yourself at the same time. This town is big enough for two hardware stores with accessories. The only man who is going to be pinched here is Martin, who runs the garage, and as a matter of fact, old Barlow is out for Martin's scalp."
I then recalled an episode between old man Barlow and Martin, the garage man, some years ago, when they had a lawsuit over a land boundary. Martin played some very dirty trick on Barlow, who lost his case. The only comment Barlow ever made was, "I can wait." It looked to me as if Barlow was helping to start a new idea in chain store organization, and at the same time paying off an old score.