"What is this job? It isn't working for you. You wouldn't ask him to do anything that would be disgraceful."
Kelley did not take time to appreciate this compliment. He made his plunge. "No. He has been working for—a saloon."
She showed the force of the blow by asking in a horrified tone, "You don't mean tending bar!"
"Oh no! Not so bad as that," replied Kelley. "Leastways it don't seem so bad to me. He's been rolling the marble in a roulette wheel."
She stared at him in perplexity. "I don't believe—I—I don't believe I understand what that is. Just tell me exactly."
"Well, he's been taking care of a roulette layout."
"You mean he has been gambling?"
"Well, no. He hasn't been gambling. At least, not lately. But he represents the house, you see. He is something like a dealer at faro and is on a salary."
She comprehended fully now—at least she comprehended enough to settle back into her seat with a very severe and somber expression on her face. "That's where his five per day comes from." She mused for a little while on this, and then suddenly another thought came to her: "What about his being your partner?"
Kelley saw that it was necessary to go the whole way, and he said, quietly: "That was all fixed up yesterday. You see, he wanted to save your mother and you, and he came to me—and wanted me to take him in as a partner, and—I did it."