"I want to know about this," he said. "It strikes me as being in pretty bad taste, and if a nervous person got hold of it, it might be dangerous."
"You think so, sir? Yet our representative," he lingered affectionately on the words, "our representative told you, I believe, that the handbill was only distributed to suitable cases."
"That's where you are wrong," said Eustace sharply, "for I have no one to bury."
"Except yourself," said the coffin merchant suavely.
Eustace looked at him keenly. "I don't see——" he began. But the coffin merchant interrupted him.
"You must know, sir," he said, "that this is no ordinary undertaker's business. We possess information that enables us to defy competition in our special class of trade."
"Information!"
"Well, if you prefer it, you may say intuitions. If our representative handed you that advertisement, it was because he knew you would need it."
"Excuse me," said Eustace, "you appear to be sane, but your words do not convey to me any reasonable significance. You gave me that foolish advertisement yourself, and now you say that you did so because you knew I would need it. I ask you why?"
The coffin merchant shrugged his shoulders. "Ours is a sentimental trade," he said, "I do not know why dead men want coffins, but they do. For my part I would wish to be cremated."