'Don't be silly, Hannah!' said the _Parnass_. 'That was just why Mrs. Mendel asked for it.' 'Yes, but unfortunately Simeon Samuels did have one,' Mrs. Mendel confessed; 'and I couldn't get out of buying it.' There was a general laugh. 'Cut-throat competition, I call it,' snarled Solomon Barzinsky, recovering from his merriment. 'But _you_ don't sell clocks,' said the _Parnass_. 'That's just it; he gets hold of our customers on pretence of selling them something else. The Talmudical prohibition cited by Mendel applies to that too.' 'So I wasn't so silly,' put in the _Parnass's_ wife, feeling vaguely vindicated. 'Well, you saw his wife,' said the _Parnass_ to Mendel's wife, disregarding his own. 'More than I've done, for she wasn't in synagogue. Perhaps _she_ is the Christian partner.' His suggestion brought a new and holier horror over the card-table. 'No, no,' replied Mrs. Mendel reassuringly. 'I caught sight of her frying fish in the kitchen.' This proof of her Jewishness passed unquestioned, and the new-born horror subsided. 'But in spite of the fish,' said Mr. Mendel, 'she served in the shop while he was at synagogue.' 'Yes,' hissed Barzinsky; 'and in spite of the synagogue _he_ served in the shop. A greater mockery was never known!' 'Not at all, not at all,' said the _Parnass_ judicially. 'If a man breaks one commandment, that's no reason he should break two.' 'But he does break two,' Solomon thundered, smiting the green cloth with his fist; 'for he steals my custom by opening when I'm closed.' 'Take care--you will break my plates,' said the _Parnass_. 'Take a sandwich.' 'Thank you--you've taken away my appetite.' 'I'm sorry--but the sandwiches would have done the same. I really can't expel a respectable seat-holder before I know that he is truly a sinner in Israel. As it is written, "Thou shalt inquire and make search and ask diligently." He may have only opened this once by way of a send-off. Every dog is allowed one bite.' 'At that rate, it would be permitted to eat a ham-sandwich--just for once,' said Solomon scathingly. 'Don't say _I_ called you a dog,' the _Parnass_ laughed. 'A mezaire!' announced the hostess hurriedly. 'After all, it's the Almighty's business, not ours.' 'No, it's our business,' Solomon insisted. 'Yes,' agreed the _Parnass_ drily; 'it _is_ your business.' III The week went by, with no lull in the storm, though the plate-glass window was unshaken by the gusts. It maintained its flaunting seductiveness, assisted, people observed, by Simeon Samuels' habit of lounging at his shop-door and sucking in the hesitating spectator. And it did not shutter itself on the Sabbath that succeeded.