"Yes, sir; with Mr. Cutts's permission, I will attend her at that hour."
Mr. Checkynshaw looked as though Mr. Cutts's permission was not at all necessary when he desired anything; but Mr. Cutts did not venture to interpose any obstacle to the wish of a person so influential as the banker. Mr. Checkynshaw turned to leave, went as far as the door, and then returned.
"André," he continued, "you spoke to me of a boy of yours."
"My adopted son, sir," replied the barber.
"I don't care whether he is your son, or your adopted son. What sort of a boy is he?"
"He is a very good boy, sir," answered André.
"Very well indeed, sir. The master of his school says he will take the medal at the close of the year."
"I shall discharge that puppy, and I want a good boy in his place. Send him to me at half past two this afternoon."
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Checkynshaw. Perhaps I spoke too soon, sir; but I did not want a place for him till next vacation."
"Send him up, and I will talk with him," said the banker, imperatively and patronizingly, as he hurried out of the shop.
He was met at the door by a girl of fifteen, who modestly stepped out of the way to let the magnate pass. She was dressed very plainly, but very neatly, and in her hand she carried a tin pail. The loud talk of the barber's shop politicians and the coarse jests of rude men ceased as she walked behind the long line of chairs to that where André was at work. She was rather tall for her age; her face was pretty, and her form delicately moulded. She was all gentleness and grace, and rude men were awed by her presence.
André smiled as sweetly as a woman when he saw her, and his eye followed her as she went to the stove, and placed the pail by its side.
"Maggie, send Leo to me as soon as you go home," said he, in the softest of his soft tones, as she left the shop.
From the tin kettle, which Maggie had placed by the stove, there arose an odor of fried sausages--a savory mess to a hungry man, possessed of a reasonable amount of confidence in the integrity and conscientiousness of sausage-makers in general. André made himself as useful as possible to his employers, and they could not well spare him in the middle of the day to go home to his dinner, for during 'change hours the shop was full of customers. If there was a lull any time before three o'clock, he ate the contents of the tin pail; if not, he dined at a fashionable hour.