So I sold." He shook his head sadly; but the customer had no comfort to offer him. He asked when his clothes would be done, and the tailor told him when, and then they were not. The new proprietor tried them on, but he would not say just when they would be finished. "We have a good deal of work already for some ladies that been disappointed. Now we try a new way. We tell people exactly what we do." "Well, that's right," the customer said, but in his heart he was not sure he liked the new way. [Pg 89] The day before his clothes were promised he dropped in. From the curtained alcove he heard low murmurs, the voice of the new proprietor and the voice of some lady trying on, and being severely bidden not to expect her things at a time she suggested. "No, madam. We got too much work on hand already. These things, they will not be done before next week." [Pg 89] "I told you to-morrow," the same voice said to another lady, and the new proprietor came out with an unfinished coat in his hand. "I know you did, but I thought you would be better than your word, and so I came to-day. Well, then, to-morrow." "Yes, to-morrow," the new proprietor said, but he did not seem to have liked the lady's joke. He did not look happy. A few weeks after that the customer came for some little alterations in his new suit. In the curtained alcove he heard the murmurs of trying on, much cheerfuller murmurs than before; the voice of a lady lifted in gladness, in gaiety, and an incredible voice replying, "Oh, sure, madam." Then the old proprietor came out in his shirt-sleeves and slippers, with his waistcoat-front full of pins and needles, just like the new proprietor in former days. [Pg 90] "Why!" the customer exclaimed. "Have you bought back?" [Pg 90] "No. I'm just here like a journeyman already. The new man he want me to come. He don't get along very well with his way. He's all right; he's a good man and a first-class tailor. But," and the former proprietor looked down at the basted garment hanging over his arm, and picked off an irrelevant thread from it, "he thinks I get along better with the ladies."
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