d.

"What!" Abe shouted.

"S-sh," Morris hissed as the door opened. It was Hymie Kotzen who
entered.

"Well, boys," he cried, "every cloud is silver-plated. Ain't it? No
sooner did I get back to my store than I get a letter from Henry D.
Feldman that Cohen & Schondorf want to settle for forty cents cash. On
the head of that, mind you, in comes Rudolph Heller from Cincinnati, and
when I tell him about the check what they sent it me he fixes it up on
the spot."

He beamed at Abe and Morris.

"So, bring out them diamonds, boys," he concluded, "and we'll settle up
C. O. D."

He pulled a roll of bills from his pocket and toyed with them, but
neither Abe nor Morris stirred.

"What's the hurry, Hymie?" Abe asked feebly.

"What's the hurry, Abe!" Hymie repeated. "Well, ain't that a fine
question for you to ask it of me! Don't sit there like a dummy, Abe. Get
the diamonds and we'll fix it up."

"But wouldn't to-morrow do as well?" Morris asked.

Hymie sat back and eyed Morris suspiciously.

"What are you trying to do, Mawruss?" he asked. "Make jokes with me?"

"I ain't making no jokes, Hymie," Morris replied. "The fact is, Hymie,
we got it the diamonds, now--in our--now--safety-deposit box, and it
ain't convenient to get at it now."

"Oh, it ain't, ain't it?" Hymie cried. "Well, it's got to be convenient;
so, Abe, you get a move on you and go down to them safety-deposit vaults
and fetch them."

"Let Mawruss fetch 'em," Abe replied wearily. "The safety deposit is his
idee, Hymie, not mine."

Hymie turned to Morris. "Go ahead, Mawruss," he said, "you fetch 'em."

"I was only stringing you, Hymie," Morris croaked. "We ain't got 'em in
no safety-deposit vault at all."

"That settles it," Hymie cried, jumping to his feet and jamming his hat
down with both hands.

"Where you going, Hymie?" Abe called after him.

"For a policeman," Hymie said. "I want them diamonds and I'm going to
have 'em, too."

Morris ran to the store door and grabbed Hymie by the coattails.

"Wait a minute," he yelled. "Hymie, I'm surprised at you that you should
act that way."

Hymie stopped short.

"I ain't acting, Mawruss," he said. "It's you what's acting. All I want
it is you should give me my ring and pin, and I am satisfied to pay you
the thousand dollars."

They returned to the show-room and once more sat down.

"I'll tell you the truth, Hymie," Morris said at last. "I loaned them
diamonds to somebody, and that's the way