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"I gather," he said, in the course of a casual conversation with Sam Kettleman, the grocer, "that wives is sometimes inconvenient and sometimes tryin' on the temper, but on the whole they're returnin' income on the investment." "Some does and some doesn't," said Kettleman, lugubriously. "Hotel grub," said Scattergood, "gets mighty similar. Roast beef and roast pork! Roast pork and roast beef!
Scattergood said, as he sat in a chair which uttered its protest at the burden. "What d'you think?" Towne said. "Got any notions? Noticed anythin' suspicious?" "Not 'less it's that there dude suit of clothes," said Atwell, with some acidity. "You put him in here," said Kettleman to Scattergood. "Calculate I did.... Hain't found no reason to regret it not yit.
Scattergood shouted suddenly at the passing drayman. "Hey, Pete.... Come here and git a cookin' range and take it up to Sam Kettleman's house. Git a man to help you. Tell Mis' Kettleman I sent it, and she's to try it a week to see if she likes it. Set it up for her and all." Scattergood settled back to watch with approval, while two men hoisted the heavy stove on the wagon and drove away with it.
"I kin haul this one right to his house, and explain to him how he come to git it so soon. I'll say: 'Locker, we jest hauled this stove down from Sam Kettleman's. Had it all set up there and then Sam he figgered it was too expensive a stove for him and he couldn't afford it right now on account of business not bein' brisk." "Eh?" said Kettleman.
"Mornin', Pliny," said Scattergood. "Mornin', Scattergood." "Fetch any passengers?" "Drummer 'n' a fat woman to visit the Bogles. Say, Scattergood, looks like you're goin' to have competition." "Um!... Don't say." "Hardware," said Pliny, nasally. "Station's heaped with it. Every merchant in town's layin' in a stock." "Do tell," said Scattergood, without emotion. "Kettleman and Locker?"
Johnnie Bones was waiting for Scattergood at the station. "Johnnie," said Scattergood, "did you sell that kitchen range to Sam Kettleman?" "Almost, Mr. Baines, almost. But when it came to unwrapping the weasel skin and laying money on the counter, Sam guessed Mrs. Kettleman could keep on cooking a spell with what she had."
Nixon's to the bank, where the finance committee were gathering to discuss the situation and to discover if Ovid's disappearance were in any manner connected with the movable assets of the institution. There were Deacon Pettybone, Sam Kettleman, the grocer, Lafe Atwell, Marvin Towne Scattergood made up the full committee. "How be you?"
If Old Man Bogle set about buying a wheelbarrow, Scattergood would intervene in the transaction; if Pliny Pickett stopped at the Widow Ware's gate to deliver a message, Scattergood saw an opportunity to unite lonely hearts and set about uniting them forthwith; if little Sam Kettleman, junior, and Wade Lumley's boy, Tom, came to blows, Scattergood became peacemaker or referee, as the needs of the moment seemed to dictate.
Immediately Locker and Kettleman and Lumley and the rest made it known to Coldriver and environs that they were dealing in hardware and not for profit, but merely as a convenience to their patrons. They emphasized the fact that they would sell hardware at cost, and exhibited prices which Scattergood studied and saw that he could not meet.
"You've took on flesh some, but otherwise 'Member the time you took me to the dance at Tupper Falls " "An' we got mired crossin' " "An' Sam Kettleman come in a plug hat." This conversation, or its counterpart, was repeated wherever resident and visitor met. Old days lived again. Ancient men became middle-aged, and middle-aged women became girls. The past was brought to life and lived again.
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