"Well, Gurin," he grunted, "what you want now?"

Gurin stopped and gasped for breath, and Morris's heart gave a
triumphant leap as he noted the anxiety displayed on B. Gurin's
clean-shaven features.

"Speak up, Gurin," he said; "I got to get my train."

Gurin smiled in surrender.

"All right, Mr. Perlmutter," he murmured; "make for me a date and I will
look the lady over."

* * * * *

When Morris entered his place of business the next morning he found his
partner examining the advertising columns of a morning paper with an
absorption hardly justified by the tabulated list of births, marriages
and deaths at which he was gazing.

"What's biting you now, Abe?" Morris demanded.

"What d'ye mean, what's biting me?" Abe rejoined, and Morris blushed in
the consciousness of his oversleeping that morning by more than half an
hour.

"Say, lookyhere, Abe," he cried. "I don't know what you are driving
into, understand me, but if you think you could get _brogus_ at me just
because I am ten minutes late once in a while, y'understand, let me tell
you I am catching a twelve o'clock train from Mount Vernon last night,