50. HITTING A LAWYER
"Have you had a job to-day, Tim?" inquired a well-known legal gentleman of the equally well-known, jolly, florid-faced old drayman, who, rain or shine, summer or winter, is rarely absent from his post.
"Bedad, I did, sor."
"How many?"
"Only two, sor."
"How much did you get for both?"
"Sivinty cints, sor."
"Seventy cents! How in the world do you expect to live and keep a horse on seventy cents a day?"
"Some days I have half a dozen jobs, sor. But bizness has been dull to-day, sor. On'y the hauling of a thrunk for a gintilman for forty cints an' a load av furniture for thirty cints; an' there was the pots an' the kittles, an' there's no telling phat; a big load, sor."
"Do you carry big loads of household goods for thirty cents?"
"She was a poor widdy, sor, an' had no more to give me. I took all she had, sor; an' bedad, sor, a lyyer could have done no better nor that, sor."