"Jacob."
"What other name?" asked the customer, quickly.
Tom had by this time completed his task, and was standing erect, facing the speaker.
"He's got an inquirin' mind," thought Tom; but, though rather surprised at the questions, he had no objection to answer them.
"I don't know," he said.
"Don't know?"
"He never told me. Maybe it's Grey, like mine. Some call him my grandfather, but he isn't."
"It is he," thought the stranger; "but things are well as they are. He knows nothing, and need know nothing. I am safe enough, since between us there is a great gulf of ignorance, and more than a thousand miles of space."
"Well, my boy," he said, aloud, "I suppose you want to be paid?"
"That's what's the matter," answered Tom.