'How he makes his money is not the question,' said the Parnass weightily. 'He has paid it, and therefore if I were to expel him, as you suggest, he might go to Law.'
'Law!' retorted Solomon. 'Can't we prove he has broken the Law of Moses?'
'And suppose?' said the Parnass, picking up his cards placidly. 'Do we want to wash our dirty Talysim (praying-shawls) in public?'
'He is right, Solomon,' said Mrs. Barzinsky. 'We should become a laughing-stock among the heathen.'
'I don't believe he'd drag us to the Christian courts,' the little man persisted. 'I pass.'
The rubber continued cheerlessly. 'A man who keeps his shop open on Sabbath is capable of anything,' said the lanky Mendel, gloomily sweeping in his winnings.
The Parnass took snuff judicially. 'Besides, he may have a Christian partner who keeps all the Saturday profits,' he suggested.
'That would be just as forbidden,' said Barzinsky, as he dealt the cards.
'But your cousin David,' his wife reminded him, 'sells his groceries to a Christian at Passover.'
'That is permitted. It would not be reasonable to destroy hundreds of pounds of leaven. But Sabbath partnerships are not permitted.'