'That's just it; he gets hold of our customers on pretence of selling them something else. The Talmudical prohibition cited by Mendel applies to that too.'
'So I wasn't so silly,' put in the Parnass's wife, feeling vaguely vindicated.
'Well, you saw his wife,' said the Parnass to Mendel's wife, disregarding his own. 'More than I've done, for she wasn't in synagogue. Perhaps she is the Christian partner.' His suggestion brought a new and holier horror over the card-table.
'No, no,' replied Mrs. Mendel reassuringly. 'I caught sight of her frying fish in the kitchen.'
This proof of her Jewishness passed unquestioned, and the new-born horror subsided.
'But in spite of the fish,' said Mr. Mendel, 'she served in the shop while he was at synagogue.'
'Yes,' hissed Barzinsky; 'and in spite of the synagogue he served in the shop. A greater mockery was never known!'
'Not at all, not at all,' said the Parnass judicially. 'If a man breaks one commandment, that's no reason he should break two.'
'But he does break two,' Solomon thundered, smiting the green cloth with his fist; 'for he steals my custom by opening when I'm closed.'
'Take care—you will break my plates,' said the Parnass. 'Take a sandwich.'