which seemed to be
against business, eyed him unfavorably from beneath his shaggy eyebrows.

"We might have a little quiet talk together," said the seaman, "you an'
me; we might do a little bit o' business together, you an' me. In the
parler, shall we say, over a glass o' something hot?"

Mr. Hyams hesitated. He was not averse to a little business of an
illicit nature, but there rose up vividly before him the picture of
another sailor who had made much the same sort of proposal, and, after
four glasses of rum, had merely suggested to him that he should lend him
twenty pounds on the security of an I.O.U. It was long since, but the
memory of it still rankled.

"What sort of business is it?" he inquired.

"Business that's too big for you, p'raps," said the sailor with a lordly
air. "I'll try a bigger place. What's that lantern-faced swab shoving
his ugly mug into the daylight for?"

"Get off," said the pawnbroker to the assistant, who was quietly and
unobtrusively making a third.

"Mind the shop. This gentleman and I have business in the parlor. Come
this way, sir."

He raised the flap of the counter, and led the way to a small, untidy
room at the back of the shop. A copper kettle was boiling on the fire,
and the table was already laid for tea. The pawnbroker, motioning his
visitor to a dingy leather armchair, went to a cupboard and produced a
bottle of rum, three parts full, and a couple of glasses.

"Tea for me," said the seaman, eyeing the bottle wistfully.

The pawnbroker pricked up his ears. "Nonsense," he said, with an attempt
at heartiness, "a jolly fellow like you don't want tea. Have some o' this."

"Tea, confound yer!" said the other. "When I say tea, I mean tea."

The pawnbroker, repressing his choler, replaced the bottle, and, seating
himself at the table, reached over for the kettle, and made the tea. It
was really a pleasing picture of domestic life, and would have looked
well in a lantern slide at a temperance lecture, the long, gaunt Jew
and the burly seaman hobnobbing over the blameless teapot. But Mr. Hyams
grew restless. He was intent upon business; but the other, so far as his
inroads on the teapot and the eatables gave any indication, seemed to
be bent only upon pleasure. Once again the picture of the former sailor
rose before Mr. Hyams' eyes, and he scowled fiercely as the seaman
pushed his cup up for the fourth time.

"And now for a smoke," said his visitor, as he settled back in his
c