their day and now had been dropped even from "the bushes," called on Irving E. regularly, made a more or less overt "touch" and always got something, ungrudgingly and also unvirtuously given.
Dave liked Snelgrove for his optimism, for the way he had come up by his own energy and for his loyalty to his old friends. Also, Snelgrove's given word was inviolate. Dave had doubted this, at first.
He had met Mr. Snelgrove in a "used car" sale in which Snelgrove had a secondhand Rolls Royce and Dave had a cash buyer. Snelgrove had a chance to misrepresent a value and Dave thought he had done so and Dave was consequently impressed when he found Snelgrove was right.
Dave knew nothing about his domestic arrangements, not even for certain whether he was married. Women telephoned often. He lived in a hotel on the south side but slept, about half the nights, at a Turkish bath, having a passion for cleanliness and personal service. He indulged in daily shaves and facial massages and frequent manicures; but he was strict with himself at the table. He ate sparingly, keeping himself hard and lean and either smoked or chewed at a cigar incessantly.
He always started a talk of any importance by rolling a good cigar across his desk to Dave; he never remembered that Dave did not smoke.
"Boy, Hamilton and me had another talk to-day on the long distance," he said casually to Dave this afternoon, after rolling the cigar across. "He's decided our price is wrong. We got to give quality, all kinds of quality, the way the demand is going now. We got
