Marcus gazed earnestly at his cousin, whose sufferings seemed to be
intensified thereby.

"All right, Elkan," he said. "Go ahead. Go home and tell Mrs. Feinermann
she should give you a little _Brusttee_; and if you don't feel better in
the morning don't take it so particular to get here early."

Elkan nodded weakly and five minutes later walked slowly out of the
factory. He took the stairs only a little less slowly, but he gradually
increased his speed as he proceeded along Wooster Street, until by the
time he was out of sight of the firm's office windows he was fairly
running. Thus he arrived at his boarding place on Pitt Street in less
than half an hour--just in time to interrupt Mrs. Sarah Feinermann as
she was about to start on a shopping excursion uptown. Mrs. Feinermann
exclaimed aloud at the sight of him, and her complexion grew perceptibly
less florid, for his advent in Pitt Street at that early hour could have
but one meaning.

"What's the matter--you are getting fired?" she asked.

"What d'ye mean--getting fired?" Elkan replied. "I ain't fired. I got an
afternoon off."

Mrs. Feinermann heaved a sigh of relief. As the recipient of Elkan's
five dollars a week board-money, payable strictly in advance, she
naturally evinced a hearty interest in his financial affairs. Moreover,
she was distantly related to Elkan's father; and owing to this kinship
her husband, Marx Feinermann, foreman for Kupferberg Brothers, was of
the impression that she charged Elkan only three dollars and fifty cents
a week. The underestimate more than paid Mrs. Feinermann's millinery
bill, and she was consequently under the necessity of buying Elkan's
silence with small items of laundry work and an occasional egg for
breakfast. This arrangement suited Elkan very well indeed; and though he
had eaten his lunch only an hour previously he thought it the part of
prudence to insist that she prepare a meal for him, by way of
maintaining his privileges as Mrs. Feinermann's fellow conspirator.

"But I am just now getting dressed to go uptown," she protested.

"Where to?" he demanded.

"I got a little shopping to do," she said; and Elkan snapped his fingers
in the conception of a brilliant idea.

"Good!" he exclaimed. "I would go with you. In three minutes I would
wash myself and change my clothes--and I'll be right with you."

"But I got to stop in and see Marx first," she insisted. "I want to tell
him something."

"I wanted to tell him