set room, and--excuse me, ladies--to hell
with the expenses! I'll go upstairs with you and show you what I mean."

Benno frowned angrily.

"'Tain't necessary, Louis," he said. "Mrs. Ortelsburg would show him."

He drew forward chairs; and, after Elkan and Yetta had followed Mrs.
Ortelsburg upstairs, he closed the library door.

"Couldn't I introduce people in my own house, Stout?" he demanded.

Louis Stout shrugged his shoulders.

"If you mean as a matter of ettykit--yes," he retorted; "_aber_ if it's
a real-estate transaction--no. When I bring a customer to Mr. Glaubmann
for his Linden Boulevard house, Ortelsburg, I do the introducing myself,
which afterward I don't want no broker to claim he earned the commission
by introducing the customer first--understand me?"

He seated himself and smiled calmly at Kamin, Glaubmann, and his host.

"I ain't living in the country for my health exactly," he declared, "and
don't you forget it."

"Where's your written authorization from the owner?" Ortelsburg
demanded, raising a familiar point of real-estate brokerage law; and
Stout tapped his breast pocket.

"Six months ago already," Stout replied, "Mr. Glaubmann writes me if I
hear of a customer for his house he would protect me, and I got the
letter here in my pocket. Ain't that right, Mr. Glaubmann?"

Glaubmann had walked toward the window and was looking out upon the
budding white poplars that spread their branches at a height of six
feet above the sidewalks of Burgess Park. He nodded in confirmation of
Louis' statement; and as he did so a short, stout person, who was
proceeding hurriedly down the street in the direction of the station,
paused in front of the Ortelsburg residence. A moment later he rang the
bell and Ortelsburg himself opened the door.

"_Nu_, Mr. Kovner!" he said. "What could I do for you?"

"Mr. Glaubmann just nods to me out of your window," Max Kovner replied,
"and I thought he wants to speak to me."

Benno returned to the library with Max at his heels.

"Do you want to speak to Mr. Kovner, Glaubmann?" he asked, and Glaubmann
started perceptibly. During the months of Max Kovner's tenancy Glaubmann
had not only refrained from visiting his Linden Boulevard house, but he
had also performed feats of disappearance resembling Indian warfare in
his efforts to avoid Max Kovner on the streets of Burgess Park. All this
was the result of Max Kovner's taking possession of the Linden Boulevard
house upon Gla