"You see, I'm—I'm out of a job."
"I know that, but then you've been out o' one fer a good while now."
"Yes, only I rather expect—indeed, I've been promised one beginnin' to-morrow."
The little man coughed behind a dirty hand.
"That's Friday?" he asked.
"It is that."
"Well, ain't you got your dates mixed? You told me last week you had a job promised for that Friday."
Katie surprised even herself: she laughed.
"So I did!" she said. "An' of course I was lyin' an' of course you knowed it. Oh, well, Woods, man, hold 'em off for forty-eight hours, an' if I don't get work then, I'll—well, I won't bother you no more."
In the shadowy hallway, she felt his eyes studying her less with evil than with wonder.