Rafferty drew a knotted hand across his eyes, and then peered keenly into Power’s face. What he saw there seemed to reassure him.
“Well, an’ it’s me that’s the lucky man, an’ no mistake!” he cried, while whole-hearted joy seemed to make him young again. “I’ll take your help in the spirit it’s offered in, sorr. If the situation was revarsed, I’d do what I could for you, because you have the look av a man who’d do unto others that which he wants others to do unto him. An’, by that same token, I’ve as much chance av gettin’ Jimmy’s stand wid the papers as I have av bein’ run for Prisident av the United States next fall.”
Power took a folded note from his pocketbook.
“Put that where the cat can’t get it,” he said. “And now goodby, and thank you.”
But something unusual in the aspect of the note caused Rafferty to open it.
“Sure, an’ you were nearly committin’ a terrible blundher!” he cried excitedly. “This is a hundred dollars, sorr, an’ you’d be m’anin’, mebbe, to give me a foive.”
“No. Don’t be vexed with me, but that amount of money will make things easy during the next month or so.”
“The next month! Glory be to God, I can live like a prince for three months, on a hundred dollars!”
“I firmly believe that you will live better than most princes.... That’s right. Stow it away carefully, and don’t forget that I am still your debtor.”
“Why, sorr, I can nivver repay you as long as I live.”