then I feel I shall be taking a great deal too much: I could not think, Sir, of parting with my goods at your price.”
“What is that you are saying, Sir?” cried the soldier. “Although not in the trade myself I can tell superior from inferior articles and am not likely to mistake one for the other. And to pay a low price for a good article is simply another way of taking money out of a man's pocket.”
“Sir,” retorted the shop-keeper, “if you are such a stickler for justice as all that, let us say half the price you first mentioned, and the goods are yours. If you object to that, I must ask you to take your custom elsewhere. You will then find that I am not imposing on you.”
The soldier at first stuck to his text, but seeing that the shop-keeper was not inclined to give way, he laid down the sum named and began to take his goods, picking out the very worst he could find. Here, however, the shop-keeper interposed, saying, “Excuse me, Sir, but you are taking all the bad ones. It is doubtless very kind of you to leave the best for me; but if all men were like you, there would be a general collapse of trade.”
“Sir,” replied the soldier, “As you insist on accepting only half the value of the goods, there is no course open to me but to choose inferior articles. Besides, as a matter of fact the best kind will not answer my purpose so well as the second or third best; and although I fully recognise your good intentions, I must really ask to be allowed to please myself.”
“There is no objection, Sir,” said the shop-keeper, “To your pleasing yourself; but low-class goods are sold at a low price and do not command the same rates as superior articles.”
Thus they went on bandying arguments for a long time without coming to any definite agreement, until at last the soldier picked up the things he had chosen and tried to make off with them. The bystanders, however, all cried shame upon him and said he was a downright cheat, so that he was ultimately obliged to take some of the best kind and some of the inferior kind and put an end to the altercation.
