Having disposed of his circulars, Sam went up to the office.
"Have you distributed all the circulars?" asked the doctor.
"Yes, sir."
"Well, here"s the ten cents I promised you."
Sam took it, but stood his ground.
"I sent you up a customer," he said.
"A patient; yes."
"And you made two dollars out of him."
"Who told you?"
"He did."
"I charged him my regular price. What of that?" asked the doctor, not comprehending Sam"s meaning.
"He wouldn"t have come up if it hadn"t been for me. I think I"d ought to have a commission."
"Oh, that"s it," said the doctor. "That doesn"t follow. He came up because of the circular."
"No, he didn"t," said Sam. "He came up because I told him what a great doctor you was."
The doctor thought over Sam"s proposal, and, being a sharp man, he decided that it was for his advantage to secure an alliance with him.
"You are right," he said. "You are ent.i.tled to something."
Sam brightened up.
"Here is a quarter in addition to the ten cents I just gave you."
"Thank you, sir," said Sam, gratified.
"Shall I go down, and give away some more circulars?" he asked.
"Yes; I"ll give you another hundred. Don"t give them away too fast.
It"s of no use to give to children."
"All right, sir."
So Sam went down into the street. The first pa.s.ser-by was a boy of twelve.
"Give me one of them papers," he said.
Rather to his surprise Sam did not immediately comply. He first asked a question.
"Have you got a dollar?"
"A dollar! You don"t want a dollar for that paper, do you?"
"No; but I aint goin to waste it on you unless you"ve got a dollar."
"What do I want of a dollar?" asked the boy, surprised.
"To pay for havin" your corn cured."
The boy burst into a laugh.
"I aint got no corns," he said.
"Then go along, and don"t bother me. You"re no good."
A young dandy advanced, dressed in the height of fashion, swinging a light cane in his lavender-gloved hand. A rose was in his b.u.t.ton-hole, and he was just in the act of saluting a young lady, when Sam thrust a circular into his hand.
"Go right upstairs," he said, "and get your corns cured. Only a dollar."
The young lady burst into a ringing laugh, and the mortified dandy reddened with mortification.
"Keep your dirty paper to yourself, boy," he said. "I am not troubled with those--ah, excrescences."
"I never heard of them things," said Sam. "I said corns."
"Stand out of my way, boy, or I"ll cane you," exclaimed the incensed fop.
"Your cane wouldn"t hurt," said Sam, regarding the slight stick with disdain. "Never mind; you needn"t go up. I don"t believe you"ve got a dollar."
This was rather impudent in Sam, I acknowledge; and the dandy would have been glad to chastise him.
"Miss Winslow," he said, "I hope you won"t mind the rudeness of this--ah, ragam.u.f.fin."
"Oh, I don"t," said the young lady, merrily; "he amuses me."
"So he does me; ha, ha! very good joke," said the dandy, laughing too, but not very merrily. "I hope you are quite well to-day."
"Thank you, quite so. But don"t let me detain you, if you have an engagement upstairs."
"I a.s.sure you," protested the young man, hurriedly, "that I have no intention of going up at all."
"Then I must say good-morning, at any rate, as I am out shopping;" and the young lady pa.s.sed on.
"I"ve a great mind to flog you," said the dandy, frowning at Sam. "I would if you wasn"t so dirty. I wouldn"t like to soil my hands by taking hold of you."
"That"s lucky for you," said Sam, coolly.