"Sure, I know it," impetuously agreed Ersten. "He is an old assel. What is to be said?" Johnny could feel the nervous tension of the room lighten as Ersten walked out with him.
"It will be like this," Johnny explained: "Schnitt will come in with me and say: 'I have come back to work.'"
"In this place?" demanded Ersten.
"Ask him that. He will say: 'Yes.'"
"Will he?" cried Ersten, unable to believe his ears.
"That's what he will say—but he won't do it."
"What is it?" exploded the shocked Ersten. "You say he says he will come back to work in this place, but he won't do it! That is foolishness!"
"No, it isn't," insisted Johnny. "Now listen carefully. Schnitt says: 'I have come back to work.' You say: 'In this place?' Schnitt says: 'Yes.' Then you tell him that he must take a month to rest up his eyes."
"But must I do his coat cutting for a month yet?" protested the abused Ersten. "Nobody can do it in New York for my customers but Heinrich Schnitt and me."
"It may not be a month. Just now he might take some of your more important work home, where the light is better. That would be working for you in this place."