'But you didn't go to buy,' said the Parnass.
'I know that—but you come into the shop—naturally he takes you for a customer—he looks so dignified; he strokes his beard—you can't look a fool, you must——'
'Be one,' snapped the Parnass. 'And then you come to us to share the expenses!'
'Well, what do I want with a barometer?'
'It'll do to tell you there's a storm when the chimney-pots are blowing down,' suggested the Parnass crushingly.
'Put it in your window—you'll make a profit out of it,' said Mendel.
'Not while Simeon Samuels is selling them cheaper, as with his Sabbath profits he can well afford to do!'
'Oh, he said he'd stick to his Sabbath profit, did he?' inquired the Parnass.
'We never touched on that,' said Peleg miserably. 'I couldn't manage to work the Sabbath into the conversation.'
'This is terrible.' Barzinsky's fist smote the table. 'I'll go—let him suspect my motives or not. The Almighty knows they are pure.'