It was nearly six weeks afterwards when I went into the
store again, and greeted the proprietor. He had seen me but once
before and had totally forgotten me. I told him I was Doctor Blank,
small farmer and large medical practitioner of Rensselaer County.
"The devil you are! Why, you're the man that bought a carpet of me a
few weeks ago; I was wondering what had become of you."
"I'm the man, and I must tell you that the carpet doesn't look well;
but never mind-here's a hundred dollars, and I want you to receipt
the bill."
"Now," said I, when he returned the bill to me receipted, "the
carpet looks firstrate; I never saw a handsomer one in my life."
"Well, you are an odd chap, any how," said the carpet-dealer,
laughing, and shaking me by the hand. Almost from that moment we
were more than mere acquaintances, we were fast friends. In the
course of the long conversation that followed, I told him of my
trouble with the hardware man-how I had sold him the recipe; that he
had failed, from ignorance to conduct the business properly, and had
sued me for damages.
"I know the man," said my new friend; "let him go ahead and sue and
be-benefited, if he can; meanwhile, do you keep easy; I'll stand by
you."
And stand by me he did through thick and thin. The hardware man sued
me no less than nineteen times, and for pretty much
everything-damages, debt, breach of contract, and what not. With the
assistance of a lawyer whom my friend recommended to me, I beat my
opponent in eighteen successive suits; but as fast as one suit was
decided he brought another, almost before I could get out of the
court room.
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