“I wouldn’t stay a day longer if it were not for you, sir.”
“Thank you, Henry! You are a good boy. I shan’t stay long myself, but there are some things I must attend to before I can go away.”
Here Brackett came in sight, and the two separated, not wishing to excite his suspicions.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MR. DODGE’S MYSTERIOUS JOURNEY.
Andy soon found that his position was by no means an easy one. Though Mr. Brackett was a lazy man himself, he had no notion of allowing his hired boy to imitate his example. Even if he had been inclined to be indulgent, Mrs. Brackett would have taken care that Andy had enough to do. She had taken a dislike to our hero, dating from the first supper when Andy firmly resisted little Tommy’s attempt to use him as a cushion.
“I don’t know what you think, Mr. Brackett,” said his wife, one day, about a week after Andy’s term of service began, “but I consider that new boy of yours an impudent, good-for-nothing upstart!”
“He is a good worker, Lucindy,” said Mr. Brackett. “He does more work than any boy I ever had.”
“Maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t, but that ain’t the point.”
“It is the point with me, my dear. Between ourselves, we get him very cheap. I don’t believe I could get another boy that would do so much work for fifty cents a week.”