up the shop."

"Do you mean to told me Sternsilver ain't here?" Seiden exclaimed.

"All right; then I'm a liar, Mr. Seiden," Hillel replied. "You asked me
a simple question, Mr. Seiden, and I give you a plain, straightforward
answer. My _Grossvater_, _olav hasholam_, which he was a very learned
man--for years a rabbi in Telshi--used to say: 'If some one tells you
you are lying, understand me, and----"

At this juncture Seiden opened the factory door and the entire mob of
workmen plunged forward, sweeping Hillel along, with his quotation from
the ethical maxims of his grandfather only half finished. For the next
quarter of an hour Seiden busied himself in starting up his factory and
then he repaired to the office to open the mail.

In addition to three or four acceptances of invitations there was a
dirty envelope bearing on its upper left-hand corner the mark of a
third-rate Jersey City hotel. Seiden ripped it open and unfolded a
sheet of letter paper badly scrawled in Roman capitals as follows:

"December 12.

"I. SEIDEN:

"We are come to tell you which Mr. Philip Sternsilver is gone out
West to Kenses Citter. So don't fool yourself he would not be at
the wedding. What do you think a fine man like him would marry such
a cow like Miss Bessie Saphir?

"And oblige yours truly,

"A. WELLWISHER."

For at least a quarter of an hour after reading the letter Mr. Seiden
sat in his office doing sums in mental arithmetic. He added postage on
invitations to cost of printing same and carried the result in his
mind; next he visualized in one column the sum paid for furnishing
Bessie's flat, the price of Mrs. Seiden's new dress--estimated;
caterers' fees for serving dinner and hire of New Riga Hall. The total
fairly stunned him, and for another quarter of an hour he remained
seated in his chair. Then came the realization that twenty-five
commission houses, two high-grade drummers, and at least five
customers, rating L to J credit good, were even then preparing to
attend a groomless wedding; and he spurred himself to action.

He ran to the telephone, but as he grabbed the receiver from the hook
he became suddenly motionless.

"_Nu_," he murmured after a few seconds. "Why should I make a damn
fool of myself and disappoint all them people for a greenhorn like
Sternsilver?"

Once more he sought his chair, and incoherent plans for retrieving the
situation chased one another through his brain