and my patience
rewarded.

"It was a fair evening early in June--Wednesday evening, I
recollect--when at last he came. Fortunately the shop was empty, and
again, oddly enough, it was some Jewish holiday.

"I welcomed him effusively. No fierce glare came from my eyes now. I was
delighted to see him and he was flattered at the profound impression his
former visit had made on me. I began very deliberately, for I could
hardly hold the scissors and was afraid that he would notice the tremor;
which, in fact, he did.

"'Why does your hand shake so much, Mr. Vosper?' he asked in his
excellent English. 'You have not been curling your little finger, hein?'

"I reassured him on this point, but used a little extra care until the
tremor should subside; which it did as soon as I got over my first
excitement. Meanwhile I let him talk--he was a boastful, egotistical
oaf, as might have been expected--and I flattered and admired him until
he fairly purred with self-satisfaction. It was very necessary to get
him into a good humor.

"My terror from moment to moment was that some other customer should
come in, though a holiday evening was usually a blank in a business
sense until the Christian shops shut. Still, it was a serious danger
which impelled me to open my attack with as little delay as possible. I
had several alternative plans and I commenced with the one that I
thought most promising. Taking advantage of a little pause in the
conversation, I said in a confidential tone:

"'I wonder if you can give me a little advice. I want to find somebody
who will buy some valuable property without asking too many questions
and who won't talk about the deal afterwards. A safe person, you know.
Can you recommend me such a person?'

"He turned in the chair to look at me. All his self-complacent smiles
were gone in an instant. The face that looked into mine was the face of
as sinister a villain as I have ever clapped eyes on.

"'The person you mean,' he said fiercely, 'is a fence--a receiver. Why
do you ask me if I know a fence? Who are you? Are you a spy for the
police? Hein? What should I know about receivers? Answer me that!'

"He glared at me with such furious suspicion that I instinctively opened
my scissors and looked at the neighborhood of his carotid. But I took
his question quite pleasantly.

"'That's what they all say,' I remarked with a foolish smile.

"'Who do?' he demanded.

"'Everybody that I ask. They all say, "What sh