mortgage your home for an automobile.'

"'It's for the benefit o' my customers,' says he.

"'Something purty for 'em to look at?' I asked.

"'It will quicken deliveries,' says he.

"'You can't afford it,' I says.

"'Yes, I can,' says he. 'I've put up prices twenty per cent., an'
it ain't agoin' to bother me to pay for it.'

"'Oh, then your customers are goin' to pay for it!' I says, 'an'
you're only a guarantor.'

"'I wouldn't put it that way,' says he. 'It costs more to live
these days. Everything is goin' up.'

"'Includin' taxes,' I says to Bill, an' went to work an' drew his
mortgage for him, an' he got his automobile.

"I'd intended to take my trade to his store, but when I saw that he
planned to tax the community for his luxuries I changed my mind and
went over to Eph Hill's. He kept the only other decent grocery
store in the village. His prices were just about on a level with
the others.

"'How do you explain it that prices have gone up so?' I asked.