t forget you are
a partner in a cloak and suit business."

"Don't worry," Morris replied; "you wouldn't let me forget that, Abe."
He strode off toward the cutting-room and once more Abe resumed his
fixed grin.

It must be confessed that through the entire six months of his building
operations Morris maintained a stoic calm that effectually hid the storm
raging within his breast. All the annoyances incidental to building a
house were heaped on Morris, and both he and Rashkin, equally, suffered
petty blackmail at the hands of the attorney and the architect for the
building-loan mortgagee.

In the meantime Abe's grin gained in breadth and malice, and on more
than one occasion Morris had foregone the pleasure of assaulting his
partner only by the exercise of remarkable self-control.

"Do me the favor, Abe," he said at length, "and let me in on this joke."

"It ain't no joke, Mawruss," Abe replied. "I thought you found that out
already."

"If you mean the house, Abe," Morris answered, "all I got to say is
that, if there should be any joke about it, Abe, the joke is on you, for
that house is pretty near finished."

"I'm glad to hear it, Mawruss," Abe said. "I suppose Ferdy Rothschild
did it a good job on the house."

"Sure, he did," Morris said.

"He didn't get no rake-offs from material men or nothing, Mawruss.
What?" Abe asked.

"Rake-offs!" Morris cried. "What d'ye mean by that?"

"I mean I seen it Gussarow, the glass man, on the subway last night,
Mawruss," Abe explained, "and he says that for every pane of glass what
went into your house, Mawruss, Ferdy Rothschild gets his rake-off."

"Well, what do I care?" Morris retorted. "If Gussarow could stand it,
Abe, I can."

"Gussarow can stand it all right, Mawruss," Abe said reassuringly. "All
he's got to do is to put it on the bill."

"Well, if he put it on my bill, Abe," Morris replied, "he also put it on
Rashkin's bill, because him and me bought the same building material all
the way through, and I wouldn't pay no bills till I saw that Rashkin
don't get charged less as I do."

This was conclusive, and Abe's grin relaxed for several inches, nor did
it resume its normal width until some days later when Morris began to
negotiate for his permanent mortgage loan. Once Morris remonstrated with
him for his levity.

"Must you go around looking like a crazy idiot, Abe?"

"I must got to laugh, Mawruss," Abe protested, "when I seen it Sam
Feder, of the Kosciusko