"I swear to you by all--" "Customers, customers!" exclaimed Fischelowitz in a stage whisper.

"Quiet, I tell you!" He made a rush for the other side of the counter, and briskly assumed his professional smile.

The others fell back into the corners.
Two gentlemen in black entered the shop.

The one was a stout, angry-looking person of middle age, very dark, and very full about the lower part of the face, which was not concealed by the closely cut black beard.

His companion was a diminutive little man, very thin and very spruce, not less than fifty years old.