"You're a Miss Smartie, aren't you?" said Jay Cohen.
The conversation languished for a while, but presently he asked Sylvia why she was so unkind to his friend Danny.
"What do you mean, 'unkind'?" she repeated. "Unkind what about?"
Mr. Cohen smiled in a deprecating way. "He's a good boy, is Danny. Real good. He is, really. All the girls are mad about Danny. You know, smart girls, girls that get around. He's very free, too. Money's nothing to Danny when he's out to spend. His father's got a tobacconist's shop in the Caledonian Road. A good business--a very good business. Danny told me what the turn-over was once, and I was surprised. I remember I thought what a rare good business it was. Well, Danny's feeling a bit upset to-day, and he came round to see me early this morning. He must have been very upset, because it was very early, and he said to me that he was mad over a girl and would I speak for him? He reckoned he'd made a big mistake and he wanted to put it right, but he was afraid of being laughed at, because the young lady in question was a bit high-handed. He wants to marry you. There it is right out. He'd like to marry you at once, but he's afraid of his father, and he thought...."
Mr. Cohen broke off suddenly in his proposal and listened: "What's that?"
"It sounds like some one shouting down-stairs," Sylvia said. "But you often hear rows going on down there. There was a row yesterday because a woman bit on a stone in a pie and broke her tooth."
"That's Jubie's voice," said Mr. Cohen, blinking his eyes and running his hands nervously through his sleek hair.
Before he could explain there was a sound of impassioned footsteps on the stairs. In a moment the door was flung open, and a handsome Jewess with flashing eyes and ear-rings slammed it behind her.
"Is that you, Jubie?" said Mr. Cohen. "Danny's gone over to see his dad. He won't be here to-day."
"You liar, he's here this moment. I followed him into the shop and he ran up-stairs. So you're the kid he's been trailing around with him," she said, eying Sylvia. "The dirty rotter!"
Sylvia resented the notion of being trailed by such a one as Danny Lewis, but, feeling undecided how to appease this tropical creature, she took the insult without reply.
