Part 61 (1/2)
”Potash & Perlmutter gives 'em solid silver,” he commented--”a wide dish.”
”Sure I know,” Klinger said, ”thin like paper.”
”_Aber_ sterling,” Gurin insisted, and Klinger made a telling diversion.
”I suppose you sent 'em something sterling also,” he said.
”Me?” Gurin exclaimed. ”Why should I buy presents? I am a retailer myself, Mr. Klinger, so I sent 'em some flowers.”
”I don't see 'em nowhere,” Sol retorted.
”They're over there,” B. Gurin said, making a sweeping gesture in the general direction of the mantelpiece, and as he did so a ba.s.s voice sounded at his elbow.
”Put out my eye why don't you?” cried Abe Potash, and then he recognized his a.s.sailant.
”Say, what are you doing here?” he demanded.
B. Gurin looked coldly at his creditor and shrugged his shoulders.
”I got just so much right to be here as you,” he said, ”and that partner of yours too.”
He hurled this defiance at Morris, who had entered the room on Abe's heels; but the retort pa.s.sed unnoticed so far as Morris was concerned, since he was absorbed in the contemplation of the presents.
”Well, Klinger,” he said, ”you are making Mrs. Gladstein a pretty fine present, ain't it?”
Klinger scowled.
”Mrs. Gladstein I ain't bothering my head about at all,” he replied.
”But when a cut-throat like Sammet makes out a scheme to steal away from me an old customer like Asimof I got to protect myself.”
Morris whistled expressively.
”So you are making the present to Asimof?” he commented.
”Sure, I am,” Sol answered. ”As for Mrs. Gladstein, she got presents enough from me. The first time she was married I am sending money to the old country to my father he should make her a present on account Mrs.
Gladstein's father is my father's a third cousin, understand me. And when she marries Gladstein, y'understand, I give her both an engagement and a wedding present both. And do you think that sucker, _olav hasholom_, ever buys from me a dollar's worth goods? _Oser_ a _Stuck_.”
”And you say Mrs. Gladstein was twicet married?” Morris asked.
”Ain't I just telling you so?” Sol replied.
”What was her first husband's name?” Morris asked; but the question remained unanswered, for at that very moment a confusion of noises in the front parlour signalled the arrival of the bride.
Morris and Sol followed the other guests from the rear parlour, and then it was that Morris discerned his partner's appreciative description of Mrs. Gladstein's claim to be in no way exaggerated. She was arrayed in a black silk dress of a design well calculated to display her graceful figure, while her oval face was shaded by a black picture hat, beneath which her large dark eyes glowed and flashed by turns. Moreover, her complexion was all cream and roses, and when she smiled two rows of even white teeth were exposed between a pair of tantalizing red lips.
Morris commenced to perspire with embarra.s.sment as he remembered how he had planned to negotiate a match for this glorious creature--a task that only a very prince of marriage brokers might have essayed. He turned away; but as his eye rested on B. Gurin, who still lingered over the presents, he was obliged to admit that he had chosen a fitting candidate, and he even felt mollified toward his delinquent customer as he reflected on Gurin's lost opportunity.
”Gurin,” he said, ”ain't you going to congradulate the _Kahlo_?”
”I didn't know she was here at all,” Gurin said sadly. The truth was that Gurin's presence at the reception that afternoon was not inspired by curiosity concerning either Mrs. Gladstein or Asimof. Business was undeniably bad with him, and he was making an earnest effort to keep his financial head above water. Thus he limited his personal expenses to the preservation of his wardrobe, and he had cut down his cost of living to a degree that permitted only a very low, lunch-wagon diet. He saw in Mrs. Sammet's hospitality the prospect of a meal, and although he was by no means courageous, his appet.i.te spurred him on to brave his creditors'