"But Mr. Perkins gave me instructions to give to you."
The man who had left his desk before paid no attention to Bob's remark, however, and the boy was wondering if, after all, the card would be of no service to him when suddenly the door opened and in walked the porter who had drawn upon himself the anger of the railroad president, the night before, by his treatment of Bob.
As the darky entered, one of the clerks happened to be passing the rail, and he exclaimed:
"Well, Thomas Jefferson, what do you want here?"
"Ah come to get my pay. Ah done been discharged."
"You discharged?" repeated the other incredulously.
"That's what, and by the 'old man' hisself."
"Why?"
"For not treating this hyar gemmen wid de respec' Mr. Perkins thought I ought to when he set hisself down in my parlah cyar, when his ticket done call for the chair cyar."
The tone in which the porter made his reply was so loud that no one in the office could fail to hear it, and as the officials had already received instructions by wire to pay off the darky in full upon his arrival, when they learned that the shabbily-clad boy standing before the rail was the cause of the discharge, they evinced a very lively interest in him.