Part 15 (2/2)

”The old man says we shouldn't make up them 1040's in nothing but black, navy, brown, and smoke!”

Lester closed the book of sample swatches and sat down suddenly.

”Wouldn't that make you sick?” he said in tones of profound disgust. ”I tell you what it is, Max, if it wouldn't be that the old man can't run the business forever, I'd quit right now. We've got a killing in sight and he Jonahs the whole thing.”

”I told you what it would be,” Max said. ”I seen Falkstatter in Sarahcuse last week; and so sure as I'm standing here, Lester, I could sold that feller a two-thousand dollar order if it wouldn't be for the old man's back-number ideas. Didn't have a single pastel shade in my trunks!”

”Where is he now?” Lester asked.

”Gone to lunch,” Max replied.

Lester took up the sample swatches again and his eyes rested lovingly on a delicate shade of pink.

”I hope he chokes,” he said; but even though at that very moment Samuel Gembitz sat in Hammersmith's restaurant, his cheeks distended to the bursting point with _gefullte Rinderbrust_, Lester's prayer went unanswered. Indeed, Samuel Gembitz had the bolting capacity of a boa-constrictor, and, with the aid of a gulp of coffee, he could have swallowed a grapefruit whole.

”Ain't you scared that you would sometimes hurt your di-gestion, Mr.

Gembitz?” asked Henry Schrimm, who sat at the next table.

Now this was a sore point with Sam Gembitz, for during the past year he had succ.u.mbed to more than a dozen bilious attacks as a result of his voracious appet.i.te; and three of them were directly traceable to _gefullte Rinderbrust_.

”I ain't so delicate like some people, Henry,” he said rather sharply.

”I don't got to consider every bit of meat which I am putting in my mouth. And even if I would, Henry, what is doctors for? If a feller would got to deny himself plain food, Henry, he might as well jump off a dock and _fertig_.”

Henry Schrimm was an active member of as many fraternal orders as there are evenings in the week, and he possessed a ready sympathy that made him invaluable as a chairman of a sick-visiting or funeral committee; for at seven P.M. Henry could bring himself to the verge of tears over the bedside of a lodge brother, without unduly affecting his ability to relish a game of auction pinochle at half-past eight, sharp.

”Jumping off a dock is all right, too, Mr. Gembitz,” he commented, ”but you got your family to consider.”

”You shouldn't worry about my family, Henry,” Gembitz retorted. ”I am carrying good insurance; and, furthermore, I got my business in such shape that it would go on just the same supposing I should die to-morrow.”

”_Gott soll huten_, Mr. Gembitz,” Henry added piously as the old man disposed of a dishful of gravy through the capillary attraction of a hunk of spongy rye bread.

”Yes, Henry,” Gembitz continued, after he had licked his fingers and submitted his bicuspids to a process of vacuum cleaning, ”I got my business down to such a fine point which you could really say was systematic.”

”That's a good thing, Mr. Gembitz,” Henry said, ”because, presuming for the sake of argument, I am only saying you would be called away, Mr.

Gembitz, them boys of yours would run it into the ground in no time.”

”What d'ye mean, run it into the ground?” Gembitz demanded indignantly.

”If you would got the gumption which my boys got it, Schrimm, you wouldn't be doing a business which the most you are making is a couple thousand a year.”

”Sure, I know,” Henry replied. ”If I would got Lester's gumption I would be sitting around the Harlem Winter Garden till all hours of the morning; and if I would got Sidney's gumption I would be playing Kelly pool from two to four every afternoon. And as for Max, Mr. Gembitz, if I would got his gumption I would make a present of it to my worst enemy. A boy which he is going on forty and couldn't do nothing without asking his popper's permission first, Mr. Gembitz, he could better do general house-work for a living as sell goods.”

Gembitz rose from his table and struggled into his overcoat speechless with indignation. It was not until he had b.u.t.toned the very last b.u.t.ton that he was able to enunciate.

”Listen here to me, Schrimm!” he said. ”If Lester goes once in a while on a restaurant in the evening, that's his business; and, anyhow, so far what I could see, Schrimm, it don't interfere none with his designing garments which you are stealing on us just as soon as we get 'em on the market. Furthermore, Schrimm, if Sidney plays Kelly pool every afternoon, you could bet your life he also sells him a big bill of goods, also. You got to entertain a customer oncet in a while if you want to sell him goods, Schrimm; and, anyhow, Schrimm, if it would be you would be trying to sell goods to this here Kelly, you wouldn't got sense enough to play pool with him. You would waste your time trying to learn him auction pinochle.”

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