"He will finish, if you please, sir," said Wilkins, with the respectful bow of an inferior, but at the same time fixing his eyes sternly on the merchant's face.
Mr. Delancey assumed an air of attention, and Guly, taking his old station in front of him, commenced in a clear, distinct voice, and repeated the table unfalteringly, from beginning to end.
"There! why couldn't you have done that in the first place, without acting such a namby-pamby farce, I'd like to know?"
"I had not the power, sir."
"Well, what do you s'pose you're good for in a dry goods store, anyway, eh? Look at that!" and he lifted one of the boy's small white hands by the tips of the fingers, and held it towards the light, as if he would look through it, then dropped it with a contemptuous "Umph!"
"What shall we do with him, Wilkins?"
"Give him the embroidery department. His hands are
just fit for such delicate work, and besides it will just put him under my eye."
"Poh! he'll make such ruinous mistakes, that I'll never be able to stand it, sir. Give him Harper's place in the thread and tape, up here, then he'll be under my eye."
Guly shuddered.