Then Adler presented his friend, “Williams,” and succeeded in getting him “taken on” at a dollar a day.
Then their section of work was pointed out to them, and they went together toward it.
“You see,” said Adler, as they hurried on, “you see, as we are an hour behind, we are docked a quarter of a day; that is, instead of getting a dollar, we shall only get seventy-five cents. Just think of it! We work ten hours for a dollar, and if we are one hour behind they dock us the wages of two and a half. ’Tisn’t the boss’s fault; it’s the contractor’s. Ross is not a bad man himself.”
So Harcourt’s self-inflicted penal servitude commenced; and, indeed, it was a most severe penance to the young man.
He did not mind the muscular exertion, the painful fatigue of back and limbs unaccustomed to hard work, but the dust, the dirt, the stench, formed a purgatory to his sensitive nerves.
That first night, when he was on his way home with Adler, he offered to lend the man money to get his goods and chattels out of pawn, and the latter thankfully accepted the help.
He went to his attic, and, first of all, took a sponge bath and changed all his clothing. He felt as if he could scarcely live and breathe until he had done that. Then he kindled his fire, cooked his chop, boiled his coffee, and ate his supper.
When he had washed up his few dishes and put them away, he snuffed his candle, lighted another, set them on the table, and sat down to read.
Through all this he had heard, and continued to hear, the monotonous thumper-thumper-thumper-thumper of his neighbor’s sewing machine. She did not come near him, however, although he felt sure that she would come if he should call her, and he felt less lonesome on that account.
About ten o’clock the first fruits of his hard work began to appear, in the shape of great fatigue and drowsiness. He went to bed, and, despite mental trouble, slept soundly—slept until the movements of his neighbor about her room waked him up, only in time to get a hurried breakfast and hasten off to his work, to escape being docked a quarter of a day for losing one hour.