"Why 'of course'?" Sam asked; and Mrs. Green nodded vigorously. "Why not we, Mr. Kirschner?"
"Well, you see, I haven't sold goods at retail for so long," Max explained, "that I really don't know how."
Sam turned to Mrs. Green with a quick shrug.
"Was hast du gehört?" he cried. "He don't know how! If I wouldn't know how to sell goods the way you don't know how, Mr. Kirschner, I would quick build up a good business here. Tell me, Mr. Kirschner, how much longer do you got a vacation, because I'd like to make you a proposition. You could stay with me here for the rest of your vacation and I would give you half of the profits over the cost price of every garment you sell. How's that?"
"Very generous," Max said; "but you don't know what you're offering me, Green, because the vacation might last for several years."
"Several years!" Sam repeated. "You mean you are retired from business, Mr. Kirschner?"
"Exactly," Max answered; "with a fortune of two diamond rings, a diamond pin, and eight hundred and sixty-five dollars cash."
Sam and Mrs. Green stared at him incredulously.
"In other words, Green," Max concluded, "I have just been fired out of a job as travelling salesman, which I held for twenty years, and I don't see a chance of getting another one."
For a moment Sam and his wife exchanged glances.