said Alwyn, following him.
“Oh, they’ll be all right.”
“Of course. But what I want is an estimate of your lowest cash prices.”
“Cash?”
“Yes, sir.”
Cresswell thought a while; such a businesslike proposition from Negroes surprised him.
“Well, I’ll let you know,” he said.
It was nearly a week later before Alwyn approached him again.
“Now, see here,” said Colonel Cresswell, “there’s practically no difference between cash and time prices. We buy our stock on time and you can just as well take advantage of this as not. I have figured out about what these things will cost. The best thing for you to do is to make a deposit here and get things when you want them. If you make a good deposit I’ll throw off ten percent, which is all of my profit.”
‚ÄúThank you,‚Äù said Alwyn, but he looked over the account and found the whole bill at least twice as large as he expected. Without further parley, he made some excuse and started to town while Mr. ¬ÝCresswell went to the telephone.
In town Alwyn went to all the chief merchants one after another and received to his great surprise practically the same estimate. He could not understand it. He had estimated the current market prices according to the Montgomery paper, yet the prices in Toomsville were fifty to a hundred and fifty percent higher. The merchant