For Love or Gold? The Story of a Great Department Store — page 178: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

_— 174 “Mr. Forbes Packer a ‘Deaeinn : “Bring me a sample of these goods, Green,”’ he a a little sternly; ‘ ‘you can get them of Billings, the buyer in q that department.” : _ “Oh, that’s only a blind, sir,” was the startling answer. — “Mr. Billings has some old goods that he is trying to work off. They are not quite up to the mark, but that ‘ad’ will sell them.” | “To you mean by that, Green, that we are misrepresent- _ - ing our goods?” asked Mr. Denton; “or, in other words, | that we are advertising one grade of goods and selling | another ?”’ | “That’s about it,” said the manager, looking a little puzzled, “but it’s nothing new, sir; we’ve always done it!” Mr. Denton looked at him for a moment before he spoke. He could not censure him for what they had “al- ways’ done, neither could he blame the man for his own previous indifference on the subject. “Don’t do it again, Green,” he said very sadly, ‘ aha send Mr. Billings to me the minute you see him.”’ As Mr. Green went out Mr. Denton groaned aloud: “Would he ever get to the end of his own dishonesty, or was he to be confronted daily by such contemptible trickery ?”’ Just once he tried to justify his past methods, but with a sneer of scorn he put such thoughts from him. As he sat in deep meditation the door opened again. He looked up, and saw that it was Mr. Forbes who had. entered. “Tam glad to see you,” said Mr. Denton, quickly, ‘ ‘and _ Il hope you are feeling entirely recovered.” Mr. Forbes bowed slightly, as he dropped into a chair. “Mr. Forbes,” said Mr. Denton, “I am ashamed of my- self! I never knew until to-day that I was such a !?? scoundrel ! He pointed to the paper that he still held in his hand, and in a very few words repeated his late conversation. _“That is necessary in business,” said Mr. Forbes | shortly, “and it is, to say the least, peculiar that you shouldn’t know it!” “Well, it’s an infamous trick!” was Mr. Denton’s re- comicbooks:com —