last week. Mr. Maimin says that he has been doing business at a
heavy loss of late, but that he hopes to be able to resume. A
settlement of thirty cents is proposed.

Morris sat down in a revolving-chair too crushed for comment, and
drummed with a lead pencil on the desk.

"I wonder if he done up his intended father-in-law, too?" he said at
length.

"No fear of that, Mawruss," Abe replied. "He ain't no sucker like us,
Mawruss. I bet you his father-in-law--what's his name----"

"The Advance Credit Clothing Company," Morris suggested.

"Sure," Abe went on. "I bet you this clothing concern says to him: 'If
you want to marry my daughter, you gotter go into bankruptcy first.
Then, when you're all cleaned up, I'll give you a couple of thousand
dollars to start as a new beginner in another line.' Ain't it?"

Morris nodded gloomily.

"No, Mawruss," Abe continued. "I bet you his father-in-law is a big
crook like himself."

He rose to his feet and opened the large green-and-red covered book
furnished by the commercial agency to which they subscribed.

"I'm going to do now, Mawruss, what you should have done before you sent
that present," he said. "I'm going to look up this here Advance Credit