"
"Old Benzine?" said the shoeman.
"Sure; that's the fellow. How did you hear about it?"
"Well, my house got it the same way yours did."
"Ah, that fellow was a smooth one," continued the hat man. "He had
burned out so often that he had been nicknamed Benzine, but still he
had plenty of money and though my house knew he was tricky, they let
him work them. I didn't know anything about the old man's reputation
when I called on him. He had recently come down into Arkansas--this
was when I traveled down there--and opened up a new store in one of my
old towns. I didn't have a good customer in the town and in shopping
about fell in on Benzine.
"He kicked hard about looking at my goods when I asked him to do so.
He knew how to play his game all right. He knew that I would bring all
sorts of persuasions to bear upon him to get him started over to my
sample room, and just about the time he thought I was going to quit he
said, 'Vell, I look but I vont gif you an orter.' Of course that was
all I wished for.
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