“No, sir.”
“Drink?”
“Not a drop.”
“That’s good. You stand all the better chance. Drink is what keeps many a good man down. Of course, if a man wants to take a little beer occasionally, no one can really object to that. I suppose you take some beer once in a while?”
The face of the youth flushed.
“I told you, sir, that I do not drink anything.”
“All right, all right. I thought perhaps you would not consider that drinking. Don’t usually ask men these questions, but I’m interested in you.”
The youth said nothing.
The foreman seemed to hesitate, and it was plain that he was not yet fully convinced that it was worth while to bother with this clean, dainty-looking stripling.
The applicant seemed to think that he had said quite enough, and he did not urge his case at all, but stood there waiting.