CHAPTER XXXIV.

Mr. Forbes reaches A decision.

Early the next morning Mr. Denton was in his office.  He was almost the first person at the store nowadays, and, as far as he could, he looked after every detail of business.

At half-past eight the sample room was thronged with drummers, and each buyer was carefully inspecting the goods which he intended ordering for his special department.

More than once Mr. Denton interrupted some low conversation where he felt sure that a deal was being made which could not be adjusted to his newly awakened conscience.

Then came the opening of the morning mail.  He had always intrusted this to others; now he gave it personal supervision.

Quite frequently he intercepted letters that he did not understand until he had investigated closely, with the aid of a detective, but in each instance the wrong-doer was treated with mercy, he was reasoned with and cautioned, a repetition would mean discharge on the instant.

Thus, almost daily he found fresh evidences of dishonesty, either in the firm’s dealing with manufacturers or customers, or some treachery of employees, whose opportunity came to them in the form of mail orders.

Goods were ordered in this way frequently which could not be supplied, and an inferior grade was almost invariably substituted.  When this was done the “mail order clerk’s” methods were simple—­either he or the firm were profiters through the transaction.

Mr. Denton finally thought out the solution of this unpleasant matter, and on this particular morning he summoned the advertising manager for the firm to his office.

Picking up a daily paper, he pointed to one of their attractive “ads.”

“Bring me a sample of these goods, Green,” he said, a little sternly; “you can get them of Billings, the buyer in 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.”

“Do you mean by that, Green, that we are misrepresenting 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 “always” 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, “and 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?”