"Well," said Benoni Hill, "I'm awful sorry for Hiram with a wife and
children to support. Of course his pay will go right on, bein' as
he's a partner."
"I don't know about that," said Strout. "That's for the trustees to
decide, and I've got to decide whether I'll do two men's work for one
man's pay."
"He would for you," Abner blurted out.
"If you think so much of him, why don't you come in and do his work
for him?" said Strout.
"When you were going to buy this store, and Mr. Sawyer got ahead of
yer, yer promised me a job here as pay for some special nosin' round
I'd done fer yer--but when yer got in the saddle you forgot the
feller who'd boosted yer up. When a man breaks his word to me onct he
don't do it a second time. That's why," and Abner went out and
slammed the door after him.
Mr. Strout was angry, and when in that state of mind he was often
lacking in prudence in speech.
"That comes of turning a place of business into a resort for loafers.
If I owned this store outright there'd be a big sign up somewhere--
'When you've transacted your business, think of Home Sweet Home.'"
"I reckon that's a hint," said Benoni Hill, as he arose and put on
his hat. "You won't be troubled with me or my trade in futur'. There
are stores in Cottonton jus' as good as this, and the proprietors are
gentlemen."
He left the store, and one by one the "loafers" followed him as no
one had the courage to break the silence that fell upon the company
after old Mr.
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