"Well," Gurin commenced, "it ain't much to tell, Mr. Perlmutter. I guess
you hear already why I am coming to this country."

Morris elevated his eyebrows.

"I suppose you are coming here like anybody else comes here," he said.
"Sooner as stay in the old country and be a _Schnorrer_ all your life,
you come over here, ain't it?"

"No, siree, sir," Gurin replied emphatically.

"If I would stay in the old country, Perlmutter, I don't got to be a
_Schnorrer_. Do you know Louis Moses, the banker in Minsk?"

Morris nodded.

"That's from _mir_ an uncle, _verstehst du_?" Gurin said; "and Zachs,
the big corn merchant, that's also an uncle. My father ain't a
_Schnorrer_ neither, Mr. Perlmutter; in fact, instead I am sending home
money to Russland like most fellers which they come to this country, Mr.
Perlmutter, my people sends me money yet."

He jumped from his chair and went to the safe, from which he extracted
two crisp Russian banknotes.

"A hundred rubles apiece," he said, and his face beamed with pride. "So,
you see, I don't got to leave Russland because I would be a _Schnorrer_
over there."

"No?" Morris replied. "Then why did you leave, Gurin? So far what I