relentlessly. "If Gifkin
tells you something you could rely on it, Scheikowitz, and he is telling
me he lives in Minsk one house by the other with this feller Borrochson,
and such a lowlife gambler bum as this here feller Borrochson is you
wouldn't believe at all."

"Meyer Gifkin says that?" Philip gasped.

"So sure as he is working here as assistant cutter," Polatkin continued.
"And if you think that this here feller Borrochson comes to work in our
place, Scheikowitz, you've got another think coming, and that's all I
got to say."

But Philip had not waited to hear the conclusion of his partner's
ultimatum, and by the time Polatkin had finished Philip was at the
threshold of the cutting room.

"Gifkin!" he bellowed. "I want to ask you something a question."

The assistant cutter laid down his shears.

"What could I do for you, Mr. Scheikowitz?" he said respectfully.

"You could put on your hat and coat and get out of here before I kick
you out," Philip replied without disclosing the nature of his abandoned
question. "And, furthermore, if my brother-in-law Borrochson is such a
lowlife bum which you say he is, when he is coming here Saturday he
would pretty near kill you, because, Gifkin, a lowlife gambler and a
thief could easily be a murderer too. _Aber_ if he ain't a such thief
and gambler which you say he is, then I would make you arrested."

"Me arrested?" Gifkin cried. "What for?"

"Because for calling some one a thief which he ain't one you could sit
in prison," Scheikowitz concluded. "So you should get right out of here
before I am sending for a policeman."

"But, Mr. Scheikowitz," Gifkin protested, "who did I told it your
brother-in-law is a thief and a gambler?"

"You know very well who you told it," Scheikowitz retorted. "You told it
my partner, Gifkin. That's who you told it."

"But I says to him he shouldn't tell nobody," Gifkin continued. "Is it
my fault your partner is such a _Klatsch_? And, anyhow, Mr. Scheikowitz,
supposing I did say your brother-in-law is a gambler and a thief, I know
what I'm talking about; and, furthermore, if I got to work in a place
where I couldn't open my mouth at all, Mr. Scheikowitz, I don't want to
work there, and that's all there is to it."

He assumed his hat and coat in so dignified a manner that for the moment
Scheikowitz felt as though he were losing an old and valued employee,
and this impression was subsequently heightened by Polatkin's behaviour
when he