B00K 0NE: YESTERDAY 71 two. But he did not mind that, On the contrary, he felt quite elated. He had known in his bones that this difficult customer would in rhe end be hooked hy Model 483, that venerable fix- ture. Twelve-eight, that was eight minutes lost. BUl four marks seventy-five earned. That was fifty-nine pfennigs aminute. A splendid profit. If every minute of his time were paid for at that rate he would be glad to sacrifice the whole of his lunch- time. Herr Wolfsohn hurried to get to Lehmann's Cafe, where he was accustomed to spend his noonday leisure. But first he bought the Berliner Zeitung. This was provided free at Leh- mann's, but it was always in use, and today, after the windfall supplied by the purchaser of the armchair, he could afford to huy his own paper. He found his favourite seat hy a window, unpacked the sandwiches wh ich his wife had prepared for him, and sipped his hot coffee. Herr Lehmann, the proprietor, came over in person to his table. "Everything satisfactory, Herr Wolfsohn?" he inquired. "Everything satisfactory," confirmed Herr Wolfsohn. Chewing and sipping, he scanned his newspaper. Unemploy- ment figures were rising; this crisis was terrible. He per- sonally, to be sure, had nothing to fear from it, He had held his position in the firm of Oppermann for twenty years. He was safe. He had, in spite of the crisis, earned a commission, that very day ar noon, of four marks seventy-five. It was the seventh time that November he had earned a commission. He was pleased with hirnself. Herr Wolfsohn, as he turned the paper, caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. He had no illusions on the subject. He was tolerably decent-looking. But some of bis colleagues were better-looking. In the mirror, there confronted hirn a gentle- man who was more on the short side than on the tall, with a dark-skinned face, lively black eyes, heavily greased, neatly parted black hair, and a black moustache that aspired, with-