"Isn't it a fact when you boys are waiting for a call, that you size up everybody that comes in to see what kind of a job you're going to get, and what's likely to be in it?"
"We gen'ally does," said Tommy with an innocent air, "but Fat Harris was pushin' me on the bench, and I was pushin' him back, so I didn't take no notice of who come in."
It suggested itself to Jack that the boy was under the spell of a generous tip. To offer him a larger tip was the most obvious course, but Jack, knowing something about boys, hesitated. Tommy would take the money, of course, but it would probably make him suspicious, and therefore more secretive than before. A better way was to win his confidence if it could be done.
"Tommy," said Jack, "the guy that gave you that package is a crook, and I'm trying to land him, see?"
Tommy looked interested but wary. He required to be shown.
"Did they tell you at the office who I was?" asked Jack.
"No more than your name was Robinson."
"Did you ever hear of John Farrow Norman?"
"The poor boy that came in for a hundred million! You bet!"
"Well, I work for him. I'm his secretary."