“Ah! Can’t be buyer and seller too. That’s what the Jews say; ain’t it?”

“At least we say truly, if we say so,” answered the old man with a smile.

“Your people need speak the truth sometimes, for they lie enough,” remarked Fascination Fledgeby.

“Sir, there is,” returned the old man with quiet emphasis, “too much untruth among all denominations of men.”

Rather dashed, Fascination Fledgeby took another scratch at his intellectual head with his hat, to gain time for rallying.

“For instance,” he resumed, as though it were he who had spoken last, “who but you and I ever heard of a poor Jew?”

“The Jews,” said the old man, raising his eyes from the ground with his former smile. “They hear of poor Jews often, and are very good to them.”