"Who gave you that?" she asked. Sue looked a little taken back, but only for a moment.
"One of the criminals," she said. Her voice was carefully casual now but her eyes were a little excited. "He's a man who made up his mind that he wanted to get way down to the bottom, and see how it feels to be down there. So he took the very worst job he could find. For two years he was a stoker—on ships of all kinds all over the world. And now that he knows just how it feels, he has an office down on the docks where he's getting the stokers and dockers together—getting them ready for a strike—on your beloved harbor."
"Joe Kramer," said Eleanore quietly. Sue gave a sudden, nervous start.
"Eleanore," she severely rejoined, "sometimes you're simply uncanny—the way you quietly jump at a thing!"
Eleanore had gone on with her knitting. I rose and lit a cigarette. I could feel Sue's eyes upon me. So this was her infernal surprise! J. K. banging into my life again!
"How long has Joe been here?" I asked.
"About five months," Sue answered.
"He might have looked me up," I said.
"He doesn't want to look anyone up, I've only seen him once myself. He has simply buried himself down there. Why don't you go and see him, Billy?" she added, with a quick glance at Eleanore. "He won't amuse you the way we do. He's one of the real criminals now."
Still Eleanore did not look up.