Edward Kleebaum was a crook because he runs a couple of
oitermobiles out in Minneapolis."
"I made a mistake about Kleebaum, Abe," Klinger interrupted. "I changed
my mind about him."
"That's all right, Sol," Abe said, "but if Kleebaum was a crook last
week, Sol, and a gentleman this week, what I would like to know is, what
he will be next week, because I got for twenty-one hundred dollars an
order from that feller and I got to ship it next week. So if you got any
information about Kleebaum, Sol, you would be doing me a favor if you
would let me know all about it."
"All I know about him is this, Abe," Klinger replied. "We drew on him
two reports and both of 'em gives him fifty to seventy-five thousand
credit good. He's engaged to be married to Miss Julia Pfingst, who is
Joseph Pfingst's a daughter."
"Joseph Pfingst," Abe repeated. "I don't know as I ever hear that name
before."
"It used to be Pfingst & Gusthaler," Klinger went on, "in the rubber
goods business on Wooster Street. First they made it raincoats, and then
they went into rubber boots, and just naturally they got into bicycle
tires, and then comes the oitermobile craze, and Gusthaler dies, and so
Pfingst sells oitermobile tires, and now he's in the oitermobile
business."
"Certainly, he got there gradually," Abe commented.
"Maybe he did, Abe," Klinger said, "but he also got pretty near a
million dollars, and you know as well as I do, Abe, a feller what's a
millionaire already don't got to marry off his daughter to a crook,
y'understand.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313