“I slept little that night.  As a special precaution against failure, I had left the back gate unbolted and refrained from locking the outside cellar door; with the sole result that I was roused up at one in the morning by a meddlesome constable and rebuked sourly for my carelessness.  Otherwise, not a soul came to enliven my solitude.  The second night passed in the same dull fashion, leaving me restless and disappointed; and when the third slipped by without the sign of a visitor, I became really uneasy.

“The fourth day was Saturday, and the late evening—­the end of the Sabbath—­turned my shop into a veritable Land of Goshen.  The conversation, mostly in Yiddish—­of which I professed total ignorance—­kept me pretty well amused until closing time arrived.  Then, as the shop emptied, my hopes and fears began to revive together.

“I was about to begin shutting up the premises when the door opened softly and a man slipped into the shop.  My heart leaped exultingly.  The man was Spotty Bamber.

“And he was not alone.  By no means.  Two more men stole in in the same stealthy fashion, and, having first glanced at one another and then peered suspiciously round the shop, they all looked at me.  For my part, I regarded them with deep interest, especially as to their hair.  ‘Habitual Criminal’ was written large on all of them.  As anthropological material they were quite excellent.

“Mr. Bamber opened the proceedings with one eye on me and the other on the door.

“’Look, ’ere, mister, we’ve come about a little matter of business.  You know Polensky used to do a bit of trade?’

“‘Yes,’ I said; ‘and now he’s doing a bit of time.’

“‘I know,’ replied Spotty, ’but you must take the fat with the lean.  It ain’t all soup.  And you know that Polensky was a bloomin’ fool.’

“’It comes to this ‘ere,’ said one of the other men, stepping up close to me.  ’Do you know a jerry when you sees one—­a red ‘un, mind you?’

“As I had not the faintest idea what the man meant, I temporized.

“‘I haven’t seen one yet, you know.’

“The fellow looked furtively at the door and then, diving into an inner pocket, pulled out a handsome gold watch with a massive chain attached, exhibited it for a moment and then dropped it back.

“‘That’s the little article,’ said he, ’and before you makes a bid, you can look it over and try if the stuff’s genu-wine.  But not out here, you know.  We does our deal inside where you can’t get ogled by a cooper through the winder.’

“I saw the plan at a glance, and, in the main, approved, though three at once was a bigger handful than I should have desired.  They would require careful treatment.

“‘I will just go and see that it’s all clear,’ I said; and with this I retired to the parlor, quietly bolting the door behind me.