The man drew back.  It was a new experience.  “You mean it?” he asked.

“Yes, give me your hand.  Now that you are decent I want to shake it.  That is the only way we can help each other.”

Kitty was poring over her accounts when Felix arrived at the express-office and made his way to her sitting-room.  She had had a busy day, the holiday season always bringing a rush of extra work, and her wagons had been kept going since daylight.  The trend of travel was to Long Island and Jersey towns, the goods being mainly for the Christmas and New Year’s festivities.  John was away—­somewhere between the Battery and Central Park—­and so were Mike and Bobby, the boy having been pressed into service now that his vacation had begun.

“Are you too busy to talk to me, Mistress Kitty?” he said, stripping off his mackintosh and hanging it where its drip would do no harm.

“Too busy!  God rest ye.  Mr. O’Day!  I’m never too busy to eat, sleep, look after John and Bobby, and listen to what ye’ve got to say.  Hold on till I put these bills away.  There ain’t one of ’em’ll be paid till after New Year—­not then, if the customer can help it.  They’ll all spend their own money or somebody else’s.  There!”—­and she laid the pile on a shelf behind her.  “Now, go on—­what’s it ye want?  Come, out with it; and mind, I’ve said ‘Yes, and welcome’ before ye’ve asked it.”

O’Day, from his seat near the stove, studied her face for a moment, his own brightening as he felt the warmth of her loyalty.  “Don’t promise too much till you hear me out.  I am looking for a job.”

Kitty turned quickly, her eyes two round O’s, all the ruddiness gone from her cheeks.  “Mr. O’Day!  Why!  Why!—­and what’s Otto done to ye?  I’ll go to him this minute and—­”

Felix laughed gently.  “You will do nothing of the kind.  Mr. Kling is all right and so am I. I want the job for a tramp who tried to hold me up one night, and who is now scrubbing the floor in a rather disreputable public house on Third Avenue.”

Kitty let out all her breath and brought her plump hands down on her plump knees, her body rocking as she did so.  “Oh, is that it?  What a start ye give me!  I thought ye and Kling had quarrelled.  Sure, I’ll take your tramp if ye say so.  We want a man to wash the wagons, and help Mike clean up.  John fired the macaroni we had last month and I didn’t blame him.  What can yer man do?”

“Not much.”

“What do ye know about him?”

“Nothing, except that he tried to rob me.”

“And what do ye want me to take him on for? 
To have him get away some night with a Saratoga
trunk and—­”

“No, to keep him from getting away with it.  He’s been on the ragged edge of life for some months, if I read him aright, and has all he can do to keep his footing.  I found him a while ago by the merest accident, and he is still holding on.  A week with you and your husband will do him more good than a legacy.  He will get a new standard.”