"About fifty? Ha, ha!" returned the German, laughing wildly. "I sell just one to a young boy named Chester Noyes. That's all I sell."
"My dear Mr. Schmidt, I am afraid you got discouraged too soon," said Hugo suavely.
"So I am your dear Mr. Schmidt, hey? You cost me dear enough with your lies about the business, you scoundrel!"
"I cannot allow you to talk to me in this way," said Hugo in a dignified tone.
"Oh, you won't, hey?" retorted the German, beginning to dance about the floor.
"Well, I won't. Maybe you prefer to have me step on your necktie, hey?"
Hugo Higgins looked alarmed, and Jed could hardly help laughing.
"Well, what do you want?" asked Hugo, afraid some applicant for an agency might enter and be frightened away.
"What do I want? I want my money back."