"Keep your old things, then! If you're a fool, Stigler isn't!" And with that she bounced out of the store. Larsen wanted to telephone Mrs. Sturtevant and tell her all about it, but I said we'd never had much business from her and I'd hate, just before Christmas, to cause a girl to lose her job. "Besides," I said, "she'd deny it, of course." I told Betty about it when I got home. All she did was to come over and give me a kiss and say, "I'm glad, boy dear, you are strong enough to do business honestly." A few days later, Mrs. Sturtevant came into the store and bought quite a number of things. When she was through, she said to me: "Didn't one of my maids come in here yesterday?" "Yes, Mrs. Sturtevant." "Why didn't she buy?" "I couldn't satisfy her," I said with a smile. "How do you mean, you couldn't satisfy her?" persisted Mrs. Sturtevant. "Why, we--we couldn't agree on prices!" "You are a very foolish young man!" I looked at her blankly--I didn't know what she meant. "If you hadn't a mother to look after you, I don't know what you would do!" "What do you--I don't quite follow you," I smiled. "I'll tell you, Mr. Black. Your mother and I, of course, know each other, and she paid me a call a few days ago; and, while talking, she mentioned that you refused to sell me some goods because you would have to add a premium to the price."--Betty must have told mother!--"I have suspected that I have been paying too much for my goods, and, when your mother told me that, I was certain of it. Besides, I suspected something when Miriam said she couldn't find the things we wanted here, and she had to go to Stigler's, when I asked her why she didn't buy them of you." "Don't worry. I haven't dismissed the girl; but I have given her a good talking to." If you knew Mrs. Sturtevant, you would know that she could give anybody a good talking-to. "But I do know I have paid prices that were too high," she continued, "because I asked a friend to go into Mr. Stigler's store and buy some things, and I checked those with the prices which had been charged me." "And they were--?" "Yes, about fifteen per cent. more." "Hum!" "Yes, exactly. I said something more vigorous than that, though, for your competitor first of all added ten per cent. for the maid and then apparently another five per cent. for himself! I have been over there and told him that I have instructed my help never to buy anything from him again, and that, if they do, I shall positively refuse to pay for it."