ol his speech as his eyes rested on the rear
stairway, but his words became more and more inarticulate until, with a
shudder and a gasp, he fell heavily to the floor.

"_Oi gewoldt!_" Abe exclaimed. He rushed to the office for a glass of
water, but even before he had reached the cooler he stopped suddenly. A
great wailing cry came from the showroom and when he ran back with the
water a bearded old man lay prostrate across Harkavy's body.

Only Miss Cohen, the bookkeeper, kept a clear head during the confusion
that followed. She despatched Nathan, the shipping clerk, for a doctor
and directed her frightened employers to loosen the shirt-bands of the
unconscious men.

"Some whiskey!" Morris shouted--and one of the cutters produced it
bashfully from his hip-pocket.

"Never try to force whiskey on a fainting person," Miss Cohen cried. "It
might get into their lungs and suffocate 'em."

"I wasn't going to," Morris said hastily, as he took a yeoman's pull at
the bottle. "I am feeling faint myself."

"_Mir auch_," Abe said, taking the bottle from his partner's grasp.
After a refreshing draught he passed it on to Pincus, who returned it
empty to the crestfallen cutter just as a physician dashed out of the
elevator.

"What caused this trouble?" he asked Abe as he knelt down by the side of
Harkavy.

Abe looked helplessly at Morris and turned to Pincus Levin, who
commenced to tremble violently.

"Hold on there!" Morris shouted. "He's going to faint too."

Abe seized the glass of ice-water and flung its contents into Pincus
Levin's face. He gasped and sat down suddenly.

"The old man," he murmured, "he's Yosel's father."

"Yosel who?" Morris shouted. "The old man's only got one son--and he's
dead."

"Yes, I know," Pincus answered; "he is and he ain't. I always thought so
too, Mr. Perlmutter, but this feller here is Yosel Levin which he got
blew up in Harkav two years ago."

"What d'ye mean got blew up?" Abe asked as the doctor worked steadily
over the two prostrate men. "How could he be blew up if he is here now?"

Pincus shrugged his shoulders.

"How should I know?" he said weakly. "I ain't lying to you. This feller
here is Yosel Levin and my uncle there is his father."

"Do you mean to told me that the old man's son ain't dead at all?"
Morris demanded.

"Seemingly," Pincus said; "_aber_ this is the first time I heard it and
I guess it's the first time the old man heard it too."

Harkavy moaned and tried t