“Never mind how I know it. I know it. Bricky’s going to be discharged. He’s an infernal agitator. He’s the idol of the men. They won’t see him punished. There’ll be a strike within twenty-four hours after he gets his papers. You wait and see.”
For a minute she sat quietly, turning the matter over in her mind. Then she looked up at him.
“Steve,” she said, “you’re a wonder.” His scheme had become clear to her.
“I can do a good deal,” he replied, “when there’s the right inducement. In this case you’re the inducement.”
She paid little heed to his remark. She was again thinking. At last she asked, as if to assure herself of the fact:
“You say the new wage-scale is ruinous?”
“Yes, I know it. It carries him more than half-way to financial destruction.”
“And on top of that you propose to precipitate a strike?”
“Exactly. That will be the final twist of the rope.”