The short man scowled, and then, as though suddenly thinking a frown was not the best passport for gaining good-will, he smiled, at the same time taking out the big bunch of keys which the watchman usually carried.
"I couldn't get them from anybody but Jake, could I?"
"I suppose not."
"Well, if your father has a right to send you to take his place when he can't come, I think Jake can hire me to take his place when he's sick. That's about the size of it, my boy. But if you ain't satisfied, you better go up and see the super. You know the kind of row he makes when the hands follow him home to ask questions. He always says, if a man can't think of enough to pester him about in the ten or twelve hours he's around the works, they needn't try to follow him home with their complaints."
"I will go to supper, Gid," said Larry, quietly.
But the man followed him to the door.
"Your father sick?" he asked.
"No."
"Gone away?"
"Yes."