He had brought with him two blank forms of agreement; and as he filled in the blanks on one of them he read aloud what he was writing and Harvey Sugarberg inserted the same clause in the other. Up to this juncture Harvey had taken Kent's dictation with such remarkable docility that Elkan and his partners had frequently exchanged disquieting glances, and they were correspondingly elated when Harvey at length balked.
"One moment, Mr. Goldstein," he said—and, but for a slight nervousness, he reproduced with histrionic accuracy the tone and gesture of his employer—"as locum tenens for my principal I must decline to insert the phrase, 'and the present tenancies of said premises.'"
Kent wasted no time in forensic dispute when engaged in a real-estate transaction, though, if necessary, he could make kindling of the strongest rail that ever graced the front of a jury-box.
"How 'bout it, Glaubmann?" he said. "The premises is occupied—ain't they?"
Glaubmann flapped his right hand in a gesture of laissez-faire.
"The feller moves out by the first of next month," he said; and Kent turned to Elkan.
"Are you satisfied that the tenant stays in the house until the first?" he asked. "That will be three days after the contract is closed."
Elkan shrugged his shoulders.
"Why not?" he said.
"All right, Mr.——Forget your name!" Kent cried. "Cut out 'and the present tenancies of said premises.'"