"I am going to tell you something!"
Alvin looked at his father a little eagerly. Perhaps his father was going to give him a present, after all. It would take only a quarter to buy the red tie. But it was a very different announcement which William had to make. He began with an alarming statement.
"After school closes you are to work at the furnace. I let you do nothing too long already, Alvin!"
"At the furnace!" Alvin's astonishment and alarm made him cry out. He hated the sight of Oliver Kuhns and Billy Knerr when they came home all grimy and black.
"I will tell you something," said his father again. "Listen good, Alvin!"
Alvin needed no such command to make him hearken. Alvin had not much will, but he was determining with all his power that he would never, never work in the furnace. He did not observe how his father's cheeks had paled above his black beard, and how steadily he kept his eyes upon his son. The story William had to tell was not that of a man whose mind was gone.
"You know the church?" said William.
"Of course."
"I mean the Lutheran church where I used to go, where my pop went."
"Yes."