"'Ah!' he said, as if he had discovered something—'and before that?'
"'With a house-wrecking gang on Flint Street.'
"'Yes—how long there?'
"'Part of a day,' I said. 'I couldn't stand up to the work.'
"I thought he looked a little sympathetic then, but was not sure until he sniffed and asked the next question in a hard, thin voice:
"'And where before that?'
"I hesitated a moment; he looked at me more closely and said in that same tone:
"'Where?'
"I had been looked at and questioned so much that way and had got so raw about it that now I almost shouted: 'In the penitentiary!'