s, he got
a hard time seeing a joke, Mawruss."

"That ain't no joke, Harris," Morris replied. "That's an offer, and I
can sit right down now and make a memorandum if you want it, and pay you
fifty dollars as a binder."

"I'll tell you what I'll do, Mawruss," Harris said. "You raised
Henochstein fifty dollars, so I'll come down fifty dollars, and that'll
be forty-eight thousand nine hundred and fifty."

He grew suddenly excited and grabbed Morris by the arm.

"Don't let's waste no time about it," he cried. "What's the use of
memorandums? We go right away by Henry D. Feldman and fix up the
contract."

"Hold on." Morris said with a stare that blended frigidity and surprise
in just the right proportions. "I ain't said nothing about forty-eight
nine-fifty. What I said was forty-eight six."

"You don't mean that, Mawruss," Harris replied. "You mean forty-eight
_nine_."

Morris saw that the psychological moment had arrived.

"Look-y here, now, Harris," he said. "Forty-eight six from forty-eight
nine is three hundred. Ain't it?"

Harris nodded.

"Then," Morris announced, "we'll split the difference and make it
forty-eight seven-fifty."

For one thoughtful moment Harris remained silent, and then he clapped
his hand into that of Morris.

"Done!" he cried.

Twenty days elapsed, during which Potash & Perlmutter took title to
Harris Rabin's house and paid the balance of the purchase price,
moieties of which found their way into the pockets of Magnus, Michaelson
and Henochstein. At length, the first of the month arrived and Abe and
Morris left the store early so that they might collect the rents of
their real property.

"_I_ seen the house, Abe, and _you_ seen the house," Morris said as they
turned the corner of the crowded East Side street on which their
property fronted, "but you can't tell nothing from looking at a
property, Abe. When you get the rents, Abe, _that's_ when you find it
out that you got a fine property, Abe."

He led the way up the front stoop of the tenement and knocked at the
first door on the left-hand side. There was no response.

"They must be out. Ain't it?" Abe suggested.

Morris faced about and knocked on the opposite door, with a similar lack
of response.

"I guess they go out to work and lock up their rooms," Morris explained.
"We should have came here after seven o'clock."

They walked to the end of the hall and knocked on the door of one of the
two rear apartments.

"Come!" sa