He turned on his heel and banged the show-room door behind him, while Abe pulled up the shades and Hymie turned off the lights.

“That’s a fine crank for you, Abe,” Hymie exclaimed.

Abe said nothing, but sat down and wrote out a check for a thousand dollars.

“I hope them diamonds is worth it,” he murmured, handing the check to Hymie.

“If they ain’t,” Hymie replied as he made for the door, “I’ll eat ’em, Abe, and I ain’t got too good a di-gestion, neither.”

At intervals of fifteen minutes during the remainder of the afternoon Morris visited the safe and inspected the diamonds until Abe was moved to criticise his partner’s behavior.

“Them diamonds ain’t going to run away, Mawruss.”

“Maybe they will, Abe,” Morris replied, “if we leave the safe open and people comes in and out all the time.”

“So far, nobody ain’t took nothing out of that safe, Mawruss,” Abe retorted; “but if you want to lock the safe I’m agreeable.”

“What for should we lock the safe?” Morris asked.  “We are all the time getting things out of it what we need.  Ain’t it?  A better idee I got it, Abe, is that you should put on the ring and I will wear the pin, or you wear the pin and I will put on the ring.”

“No, siree, Mawruss,” Abe replied.  “If I put it on a big pin like that and I got to take it off again in a week’s time might I would catch a cold on my chest, maybe.  Besides, I ain’t built for diamonds, Mawruss.  So, you wear ’em both, Mawruss.”

Morris forced a hollow laugh.

“Me wear ’em, Abe!” he exclaimed.  “No, siree, Abe, I’m not the kind what wears diamonds.  I leave that to sports like Hymie Kotzen.”

Nevertheless, he placed the ring on the third finger of his left hand, with the stone turned in, and carefully wrapping up the pin in tissue-paper he placed it in his waistcoat pocket.  The next day was Wednesday, and he screwed the pin into his shirt-front underneath a four-in-hand scarf.  On Thursday he wore the ring with the stone exposed, and on Friday he discarded the four-in-hand scarf for a bow tie and shamelessly flaunted both ring and pin.

“Mawruss,” Abe commented on Saturday, “must you stick out your little finger when you smoke it a cigar?”

“Habits what I was born with, Abe,” Morris replied.  “I can’t help it none.”

“Maybe you was born with a diamond ring on your little finger.  What?” Abe jeered.

Morris glared at his partner.

“If you think that I enjoy it wearing that ring, Abe,” he declared, “you are much mistaken.  You got us to take these here diamonds, Abe, and if they got stole on us, Abe, we are not only out the thousand dollars, but we would also got to pay it so much more as Hymie Kotzen would sue us for in the courts.  I got to wear this here ring, Abe, and that’s all there is to it.”

He walked away to the rear of the store with the air of a martyr, while Abe gazed after him in silent admiration.