"Well, I don't blame him," said Bettie. "What's the matter with our south room? Your father and mother are moving to town to-morrow, and you know we won't have use for all the rooms in the house. The south room has a separate stairway leading from the small sitting room on the first floor. We could give him those rooms and make him comfortable. I rather like his appearance," she added. "Of course, Italians are foreigners and they're about as awkward in our country trying to speak our language as we would be if we were in their country trying to speak Italian. How much does he want to work for us?"
"He didn't say, but I'll ask him," and they adjourned to the porch.
"How much money would you want, Tony?" asked Joe Williams, "to work for us, say by the month?"
"Where I-a da sleep?" asked Tony quickly.
"In that room up there on the second floor, at the end of the porch."
"And where I-a da eat?" he asked again.
"Why, with us, of course," said Joe Williams.
"Then I stay-a da mont and do-a da work, and when I get-a da through, we make-a da barg. If you like-a my work and I like-a da place, then I stay, but if you no-a like me and I no-a like you, then I go."
"All right," laughed Joe Williams, "that's a bargain, Tony. Do you want to begin work right away?"
"Yes, I no like-a da loaf," said the man, shrugging his shoulders.