When the door was finally opened and McGaw and Crimmins came out,
they brought with them an aroma the pungency of which was
explained by two empty glasses and a black bottle decorating one
end of the only table in the room.
As Crimmins stepped down from the broken stoop, with its rusty
rain-spout and rotting floor-planks, Billy overheard this parting
remark from his father: "Thry the ile furst, Crimmy, an' see what
she'll do; thin give her the vinegar; and thin," with an oath, "ef
that don't fetch'er, come back here to me and we'll give 'er the
red pepper."
Brother Knight Crimmins waved his hand to the speaker. "Just
leave'er to me, Dan," he said, and started for Tom's house.
Crimmins was delighted with his mission. He felt sure of bringing
back her application within an hour. Nothing ever pleased him so
much as to work a poor woman into an agony of fright with threats
of the Union. Wives and daughters had often followed him out into
the street, begging him to let the men alone for another week
until they could pay the rent. Sometimes, when he relented, the
more grateful would bless him for his magnanimity. This increased
his self-respect.
Tom met him at the door. She had been sitting up with a sick
child of Dick Todd, foreman at the brewery, and had just come
home.
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