When the man with the spectacles arrived Sam guessed his mission without waiting for a word of greeting.
“You,” said Sam, “are here to talk wardrobes; let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Before I talk wardrobes, or, if you please, the New Way system,” began the salesman, “I would prefer to get a fair idea of the amount and kind of stock you carry and how you care for it now.”
“Just as I thought,” interrupted Stucker. “You’re afraid our stock is too big for your wardrobe capacity.
“Well, I don’t want to discourage you, but when you count the suits on the table, don’t forget to add about 50 dozen pair of knee pants and odd trousers stored in case-goods boxes under the tables.
“Remember too, that when you take the tables out, you must find another place for our last years sweaters, mufflers, caps, gloves and underwear, as well as all our advance stock of shirts, hosiery and ties which we keep under the tables because we have no room for them on our side shelving. You can see it is piled to the ceiling now; and all that on top is active stock.”
“That reminds me, Mr. Stucker, of a joke your friend Jones, over at Dennisville, played on Sakes, his partner.
“Before we remodelled their store, they had a lot of money tied up in stock piled under the tables like you have. Most of it was odds and ends—left overs of many seasons that Jones knew even a clearance sale would not clean up.
“He inventoried the lot and shipped 72 dozen pair of knee pants to New York, and wrote the auctioneer to send a check for whatever amount they brought.
“The funny part of it, Sakes never discovered that the stock was gone until about three weeks later, when he noticed a check in the mail and asked Jones what it was for.