He darted into the rear room and slammed the partition door behind him.
"Koosh, Dishkes!" he hissed. "Ain't you got no sense at all—blabbing out your business in front of all them strangers?"
It was at this juncture that Elkan rapped on the door.
"Excuse me, Mr. Ringentaub," he said, "but I ain't no stranger to Mr. Dishkes—not by four hundred dollars already."
He opened the door as he spoke, and Dishkes, who was sitting at a table with his head bowed on his hands, looked up mournfully.
"Nu, Mr. Lubliner!" he said. "You are after me, too, ain't it?"
Elkan shook his head.
"Not only I ain't after you, Dishkes," he said, "but I didn't even know you was in trouble until just now."
"And you never would of known," Ringentaub added, "if he ain't been such a dummer Ochs and listened to people's advice. He got a good chance to sell out, and he wouldn't took it."
"Sure, I know," Elkan said, "to an auction house; the idee being to run away mit the proceeds and leave his creditors in the lurches!"