'My money is good,' Mendel replied, reddening. 'No wonder he can pay so quickly!' said Solomon Barzinsky, shuffling the cards savagely. 'How he makes his money is not the question,' said the _Parnass_ weightily. 'He has paid it, and therefore if I were to expel him, as you suggest, he might go to Law.' 'Law!' retorted Solomon. 'Can't we prove he has broken the Law of Moses?' 'And suppose?' said the _Parnass_, picking up his cards placidly. 'Do we want to wash our dirty _Talysim_ (praying-shawls) in public?' 'He is right, Solomon,' said Mrs. Barzinsky. 'We should become a laughing-stock among the heathen.' 'I don't believe he'd drag us to the Christian courts,' the little man persisted. 'I pass.' The rubber continued cheerlessly. 'A man who keeps his shop open on Sabbath is capable of anything,' said the lanky Mendel, gloomily sweeping in his winnings. The _Parnass_ took snuff judicially. 'Besides, he may have a Christian partner who keeps all the Saturday profits,' he suggested. 'That would be just as forbidden,' said Barzinsky, as he dealt the cards. 'But your cousin David,' his wife reminded him, 'sells his groceries to a Christian at Passover.' 'That is permitted. It would not be reasonable to destroy hundreds of pounds of leaven. But Sabbath partnerships are not permitted.' 'Perhaps the question has never been raised,' said the _Parnass_. 'I am enough of a _Lamdan_ (pundit) to answer it,' retorted Barzinsky. 'I prefer going to a specialist,' rejoined the _Parnass_. Barzinsky threw down his cards. 'You can go to the devil!' he cried. 'For shame, Solomon!' said his wife. 'Don't disturb the game.' 'To Gehenna with the game! The shame is on a _Parnass_ to talk like an _Epikouros_ (Epicurean).' The _Parnass_ blew his nose elaborately. 'It stands in the Talmud: "For vain swearing noxious beasts came into the world." And if----' 'It stands in the Psalmist,' Barzinsky interrupted: '"The Law of Thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver."' 'It stands in the Perek,' the _Parnass_ rejoined severely, 'that the wise man does not break in upon the speech of his fellow.' 'It stands in the Shulchan Aruch,' Barzinsky shrieked, 'that for the sanctification of the Sabbath----' 'It stands in the Talmud,' interposed Mendel, with unwonted animation in his long figure, 'that one must not even offer a nut to allure customers. From light to heavy, therefore, it may be deduced that----' A still small voice broke in upon the storm. 'But Simeon Samuels hasn't a Christian partner,' said Mrs. Mendel. There was an embarrassed pause. 'He has only his wife to help him,' she went on. 'I know, because I went to the shop Friday morning on pretence of asking for a cuckoo-clock.' 'But a marine-dealer doesn't sell clocks,' put in the _Parnass's_ wife timidly. It was her first contribution to the conversation, for she was overpowered by her husband's greatness.