In the long run it pays. And so this
cloth merchant was well disposed toward me. He had done me
some favors before. He addressed me as Dave. (There was a note
of condescension as well as of admiration in this "Dave" of his. It
implied that I was a shrewd fellow and an excellent customer,
singularly successful and reliable, but that I was his inferior, all
the same--a Jew, a social pariah. At the bottom of my heart I
considered myself his superior, finding an amusing discrepancy
between his professorial face and the crudity of his intellectual
interests; but he was a Gentile, and an American, and a much
wealthier man than I, so I looked up to him.) To make my appeal
as effective as possible I initiated him into the human side of my
troubles. I told him of my unfortunate courtship as well as of the
real-estate ventures into which it had led me
He was interested and moved, and, as he had confidence in me, he
granted my request at once.
"It's all right, Dave," he said, slapping my back, a queer look in his
eye.
"You can always count on me.
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