The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-01-22
CHAPTER V-Continued
10


'Nothing doing at all,' he said vio-
lently. 'I've been listening to you fell
lows all day, and I'm through. Seer"
II feel, suppose, much as you do"
Edward told him. SITS as firing work
trying to find the doors to inaccessible
minds as it is to sit listening to strings
Of plausible nonsense. Yet it's part
Of your business to be curious and toll
Grant, and it's part Of mine to be indie
fatigable. I may have something
you want, and you may be a potential
customer of mine. It won't take either
of us but a few minutes to find out"
He was conscious Of having created
with this speech, some sort Of disturb
ance in the mental atmosphere of the
man behind the counter. In particular,
the word indefatigable seemed to have
startled him. He'd been frightfully
self conscious and embarrassed over
his choice Of words during the earlier
encounters Of the day, trying for the
vocabulary, the phrases, even the in
Elections, of hard-boiled craftsmanship.
and aware that he wasn't doing 1t sue
cessfully.
OF late he'd been forgetting about
this supposed necessity but it wasn't
until now that he realized how farshe
had lapsed. Indefatigable wasn't the
only one, either How about 'inac-
cessible" and potential" and plausible
nonsense! Surprisingly, though, they
seemed not to have done his cause any
harm. Possibly this hail Of poly
syllables had dazed his victim. The
implaeable hostility of his expression
didn't change and he spoke as gruffly
as ever, but what he said was, "What
you got?"
Edward took the choke out Of his
pocket and handed 1t over to him but
didn't at once launch out on his ex-
PLANTATION; gave him time for a curious
and rather mystified examination first.
This wasn't conscious drama on his
part. He was still thinking about the
effect Of his words.
Was 1t possible that an honestly ac-
quired command Of the English lam
guage was an asset and not liability?
Certainly he'd got on better since he'd
quit pretending to be less educated
than he really was.
The man was asking questions, he
kept on asking them. He must like
the thing or he wouldn't hang on to
it like that. He sneered at Edwards
lighted match test but he repeated the
thing two or three times for himself.
Why?
Suddenly Edward got surmise as
to the answer to that question and it
excited him as the sight Of the fleeing
cat excites the dog.
The man was afraid He was afraid
he'd buy. A,stupid man, no doubt, not
very quick witted, anyhow, inclined to
be credulous. If he didn't look out
people took him in, persuaded him Of
things: especially people whose in
telligence he recognized as superior
to his own. His defense was to
brighten them, with his sneers, his
bullying voice. When he succeeded in
frightening them he avenged on them
his own fears.
This time, though, his defense had
failed. The shoe was on the other
foot. This customer, before Edward
got through with him. was going to
/ sign his name on the dotted line Of
tan order form. A dozen? No. A
iii carton Of two dozen was the tune
De was going to dance to.
All the same. when the order was
finally filed in and the signature writ
ten down, feeling akin to panic took
possession Of the salesman. The man
might snatch the thing back from him
and tear 1t up. He didn't feel safe
until he had got outside.