Abe and Mawruss - Being Further Adventures of Potash and Perlmutter by Montague Glass
page 234 of 369 (63%)
page 234 of 369 (63%)
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Nevertheless, when Felix Geigermann, the well-known Harlem dry-goods merchant and violin dilettante, entered Potash & Perlmutter's showroom the next morning Morris greeted him with some misgiving. "Hello, Felix!" he said. "Are you giving us a repeat order so soon already on them 4022's?" Felix shook his head. "I got a few words to say to Abe, Mawruss," he replied. "Is he in now?" Morris smiled amiably, although he was convinced that Felix's visit boded a cancellation of the 4022's. "He ain't in now," he answered, "but if you wait a few minutes he'll be right back." He returned hastily to the office, for he knew that if Abe found them in conversation on his return he would impute the cancellation of the order to something Morris had said. Thus Felix was left alone in the showroom, save for Cesar Kovalenko, who plied a feather duster industriously among the sample-racks. As he worked, Cesar whistled a Russian melody, half sad, half cheerful, and Felix paused midway in the lighting of his cigar. It was the opening theme in the second movement of Tschaikovsky's Fourth Symphony; and Cesar's rendition of it was not only true to pitch but he managed to introduce certain nuances that to Felix proclaimed the born musician. "What's that you are whistling?" he inquired; and Cesar smiled. |
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