genu-ine Amati and I didn't pay no such figure for it."

Felix looked carefully at Abe's stolid face for some gleam of humour;
and then he broke into a fit of laughter so violent that Abe suspected
it to be a trifle forced.

"All right, Felix," he grumbled; "maybe you think it is a joke, but just
the same I am telling you I paid for that fiddle only two hundred
dollars."

Felix stopped laughing and wiped his eyes.

"Well, I'm sorry, Abe," he said seriously. "A feller should never look a
gift horse in the teeth, Abe; but that fiddle ain't worth a cent more
than a hundred at the outside."

"Do you mean to say it ain't a genu-ine Amati?" Abe asked angrily.

"Why, I don't mean to say anything, Abe," Felix began; "but there are
Amatis and Amatis. Some of them are worth little fortunes and others are
very ordinary-like."

"Say, lookyhere, Felix," Abe cried, "don't fool with me. Either that
fiddle is or it ain't a genu-ine Amati. Ain't it?"

Felix paused. He wanted those velvet suits badly, and it began to look
as though there would be a delay in the shipment.

"What is all this leading to, Abe?" he began pleasantly. "If there's
anything troubling you speak right up and I'll try to straighten it