"Mawruss," he hissed, "Hymie Kotzen is downstairs."
By a feat of legerdemain that a conjurer might have envied, Morris transferred the pin and ring to his waistcoat pocket and followed Abe to the show-room.
"Well, Hymie," Morris cried, "we thought you would be prompt on the day. Ain't it?"
Hymie smiled a sickly smirk in which there was as little mirth as there was friendliness.
"You got another think coming," Hymie replied.
"What d'ye mean?" Morris exclaimed.
"I'm up against it, boys," Hymie explained. "I expected to get it a check for two thousand from Heller, Blumenkrohn this morning."
"And didn't it come?" Abe asked.
"Sure it come," Hymie replied, "but it was only sixteen hundred and twenty dollars. They claim it three hundred and eighty dollars for shortage in delivery, so I returned 'em the check."
"You returned 'em the check, Hymie?" Morris cried. "And we got to wait for our thousand dollars because you made it a shortage in delivery." "I didn't make no shortage in delivery," Hymie declared.