“Well, Mawruss,” Abe cried, “what’s the matter?  Couldn’t you say nothing?  What did you come downtown again for?  You should have stayed uptown with Minnie.”

“S’all right, Abe,” Morris gasped.  “S’all over, too.  The doctor says instead I should be making a nuisance of myself uptown, I would be better off in the store here.  He was there before I could get home.”

“Who was there?” Abe asked.  “The doctor?”

“Not the doctor,” Morris went on.  “The boy was there.  Minnie is doing fine.  The doctor said everything would be all right.”

“That’s good.  That’s good,” Abe murmured.

“Y’oughter seen him, Abe.  He weighed ten pounds,” Morris continued.  “I bet yer he could holler, too,—­like an auctioneer already.  Minnie says also I shouldn’t forget to tell you what we agreed upon.”

“What we agreed upon?” Abe repeated.  “Why we ain’t agreed upon nothing, so far what I hear, Mawruss.  What d’ye mean—­what we agreed upon?”

“Not you and me, Abe,” Morris cried. “Her and me.  We agreed that if it was a boy we’d call him Abraham P. Perlmutter already.”

He slapped Abe on the back and laughed uproariously, while Abe looked guilty and blushed a deep crimson.

“Abraham Potash Perlmutter,” Morris reiterated.  “That’s one fine name, Sol.”

It was now Sol’s turn to take Morris’ hand and he squeezed it hard.

“I congradulate you for the boy and for the name both,” he said.

Once more Abe seized his partner’s hand and shook it rhythmically up and down as though it were a patent exerciser.

“Mawruss,” he said, “this is certainly something which I didn’t expect at all, and all I could say is that I got to tell you you would never be sorry for it.  Just a few minutes since in Hammersmith’s I was telling Sol I got a partner which it is a credit and an honor for a feller to know he could always trust such a partner to do what is right and square and also, Mawruss, I——­Miss Cohen,” he broke off suddenly, “you should draw right away another check in my personal book for a hundred dollars.”

“To whose order?” Miss Cohen asked.

Abe cleared his throat and blinked away a slight moisture before replying.

“Make it to the order of Abraham P. Perlmutter,” he said, “and we will deposit it in a savings bank, Mawruss, and when he comes twenty-one years old, Mawruss, we will draw it out with anything else what you put in there for him, Mawruss, and we will deposit it in our own bank to the credit of Potash, Perlmutter & Son.”

Sol Klinger’s face spread into an amiable grin.

“You could put me down ten dollars on that savings bank account, too, boys,” he said as he reached for his hat.  “I’ve got to be going now.”

“Don’t forget you should tell Klein it’s a boy,” Morris called to him.

“I wouldn’t forget,” Sol replied.  “Klein’ll be glad to hear it.  You know, Mawruss, Klein ain’t such a grouch as most people think he is.  In fact, taking him all around, Klein is a pretty decent feller.”