Sube clutched desperately at the barber's sleeve. "I can't wait!" he pleaded. "I got to get it done right now!"
"I can't take no chances!" declared the barber positively. "I've had the union after me twic't already. If you want to get it cut to-night, why, you'll have to go somewheres else."
"Where can I go?" asked Sube quickly.
"Well,—I don't know as I could tell you no place," responded the barber dubiously. "Every shop in town belongs to the union."
The agonized expression on Sube's face was too much for the barber's wife. "What seems to be the trouble?" she asked kindly. "Tell me about it."
Here was a chance for aid from an unexpected quarter; but it was fraught with danger. Mrs. McInness's sister was a teacher in the school Sube attended. He must have a care what he told her.
"It's on account of my father," he finally managed to say, as he assumed a martyred expression.
"Your father?" she asked clearly puzzled.
"Yes, ma'am. He's pretty bad to-night!"
"Why, he isn't sick, is he? I saw him on the street this afternoon."