Page:Steadfast Heart.djvu/188

 said quizzically, “I don’t calc’late you’d hazard a remark if I waited till midnight.”

Angus grinned. “There isn’t anything to say,” he said.

“Mr. Woodhouse was here to-day—talked about you…. He wants you to come to work for him.” Dave stated the fact suddenly and baldly and then waited to see what expression would alter Angus’s face. But Angus was the better waiter—nothing happened except that Angus waited. “I told him I’d ask you what you thought about it. What do you think?”

“The paper—” Angus began.

“I’ll be back in a month—and then you’ll be out of a job.”

This was true. Angus had never considered it before: When Dave came back he would be superfluous, a burden.

“There—there won’t be anything for me to do,” he said blankly.

“We could make something for you to do. You’re welcome, you’re wanted…. But here, Angus, is a chance, a greater chance than I can ever give you to make something of yourself…. And you would be near me.”

“Could I—keep on sleeping in—my old room over the shop?”

Dave turned away his head…. “That’s part of the bargain. You’ve got to promise to stay