"Difficulty?" Mrs. Ortelsburg cried. "Why, just let me show you my
kitchen. The girls love it here. In the first place, we are only twenty
minutes from Coney Island; and, in the second place, with all the eggs
which we got it, they could always entertain their fellers here in such
a fine, big kitchen, which I am telling my girl, Lena: 'So long as you
give 'em omelets or fried eggs _mit_ fat, Lena, I don't care how many
eggs you use--_aber_ butter is butter in Burgess Park _oder_ Harlem.'"

In this vein Mrs. Ortelsburg continued for more than an hour, while she
conducted Yetta to the kitchen and cellar and back again to the
bedrooms above stairs, until she decided that sufficient interest had
been aroused to justify the more robust method of her husband. She
therefore returned to the library, and therewith began for Benno
Ortelsburg the real business of the afternoon.

"Well, boys," he said, "I guess we would quit pinocle for a while and
join the ladies."

He chose for this announcement a moment when Elkan's chips showed a
profit of five dollars; and as, in his capacity of banker, he adjusted
the losses of the other players, he kept up a merry conversation
directed at Mrs. Lubliner.

"Here in Burgess Park," he said, "we play pinocle and we leave it alone;
while in the city when a couple business men play pinocle they spend a
day at it--and why? Because they only get a chance to play pinocle once
in a while occasionally. Every night they are going to theatre _oder_ a
lodge affair, understand me; whereas here, the train service at night
not being so extra elegant, y'understand, we got good houses and we stay
in 'em; which in Burgess Park after half-past seven in the evening any
one could find a dozen pinocle games to play in--and all of 'em breaks
up by half-past ten already."

With this tribute to the transit facilities and domesticity of Burgess
Park, he concluded stacking up the chips and turned to Mrs. Lubliner.

"Yes, Mrs. Lubliner," he continued with an amiable smile, "if you
wouldn't persuade your husband to move out to Burgess Park, understand
me, I shall consider it you don't like our house here at all."

"But I do like your house!" Yetta protested.

"I should hope so," Benno continued, "on account it would be a poor
compliment to a lot of people which could easy be good customers of your
husband. For instance, this house was decorated by Robitscher, Smith &
Company, which Robitscher lives across the s