ld us the house,"
Abe said jocularly.

"Any one what sold that house once, Abe," Louis rejoined, "don't want it
back again."

At length, when Louis was absent on a business trip some three months
before the expiration of his contract, Abe approached Morris in the
show-room and mooted the subject of taking back the house.

"That house is a sticker, Mawruss," he said, "and we certainly shouldn't
let Louis suffer by it. The boy done well by us, and we don't want to
lose him."

"Well, Abe," Morris replied, "the way I look at it, we should wait till
his time is pretty near up. Maybe he will renew the contract without our
taking back the house, Abe; but if the worst comes to the worst, Abe, we
give him what he spent on the house and take it back, _providing_ he
renews the contract for a couple of years. Ain't it?"

Abe nodded doubtfully.

"Maybe you're right, Mawruss," he said; "but the boy done good for us,
Mawruss. We made it a big profit by him this year already, and I don't
want him to think that we ain't doing the right thing by him."

"Since when was you so soft-hearted, Abe?" Morris asked satirically; and
when Louis came back from the road, a week later, no mention was made of
the house until Louis himself broached the topic.

"Look'y here, Abe," Louis said, "what are you going to do for me about
that house? Counting the rent I collected and the money I laid out for
carrying charges, I'm in the hole eight hundred and fifty dollars
already."

"Do for you, Louis!" Morris replied. "Why, what can we do for you? Why
don't you fix it up like this, Louis? Why don't you make one last
campaign among the real-estaters, and then if you don't succeed maybe we
can do something."

"That's right, Louis," Abe said. "Just try it and see what comes of it."

Then Abe handed Louis a cigar and dismissed the subject, which never
again arose until Louis was on his final trip.

"Ain't it funny, Mawruss," Abe said, the morning of Louis' expected
return--"ain't it funny he ain't mentioned that house to us since we
spoke to him the last time he was home?"

"I know it," Morris replied, "but you needn't worry, Abe. It says in
the contract that Louis can't take a job as salesman with any other
house till one year is up, and the boy can't afford to stay loafing
around for a whole year."

Abe nodded, and as he turned to look up the contract in the safe the
store door opened and Louis himself entered.

"Hallo, Louis," Abe cried. "G