At the same time he seemed to like me.
But then he hated me, too. As for me, I reciprocated both feelings
One day, on the road, he made me the victim of a practical joke
that proved an expensive lesson to me. The incident took place in
a hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio. He "confidentially" let me see one of
his samples, hinting that it was his "leader," or best seller. He then
went to do some telephoning, leaving the garment with me the
while. Whereupon I lost no time in making a pencil-sketch of it,
with a few notes as to materials, tints, and other details. I
subsequently had the garment copied and spent time and money
offering it to merchants in New York and on the road. It proved an
unmitigated failure.
"You are a nice one, you are," he said to me, with mock gravity, on
a subsequent trip. "You copied that garment I showed you in
Cincinnati, didn't you?"
"What garment? What on earth are you talking about?" I lied, my
face on fire.
"Come, come, Levinsky. You know very well what garment I
mean. While I was away telephoning you went to work and made
a sketch of it.
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