clear eyes, Leventhal saw that a connection of the utmost importance had been established in his mind. "Dan, do you know any facts about him that I don't?" "What do you call facts? It depends. I think so. I mean, I've heard. But was he around again? Let's have the rest of it." "What have you heard?" "You tell me first. Let's see if it's all one piece. Maybe it isn't. It may not be worth bothering about--loony all of it, and we ought to tie a can to it?" He would not speak, and Leventhal hurriedly set forth all that Allbee had done and said, and, despite his haste and his eagerness to find out what Harkavy knew, he interrupted himself from time to time to make scornful, almost laughing comments which in his heart he recognized to be appeals to Harkavy to confirm the absurdity, the madness of the accusations. Harkavy, however, did not respond to these appeals. He was sober. He continued to say, "Disagreeable, disagreeable," but his manner did not give Leventhal much comfort. "He makes out a whole case that I'm responsible for his wife and everything...!" said Leventhal, his voice rising nearly to a cry. "His wife? That's far-fetched, far-fetched," said Harkavy. "I wouldn't listen to stuff like that." "You think I do? I'd have to be crazy too. How could anybody? Could you?" "No, no, I say it's far-fetched. He's overstraining the imagination. He must have a loose screw." Harkavy twisted a finger near his head and sighed. "But the story went round that he was canned, and then I heard that he couldn't get another job. They canned him at quite a few places before." "Because of drinking..." Harkavy shrugged. His face was wrinkled and he was half turned away from Leventhal. "Maybe. He wasn't in good anywhere, as I heard it, and he was just about running out of breaks when he got the job with Dill's." "Who told you that?" "Offhand I don't recollect." "Do you think there's a black list, Dan? When I talked over that Rudiger thing with you, you laughed at the idea." "Did I? Well, I don't believe in such stuff in general." "All right, here's proof. You see? There is a black list." "I'm not convinced. This man of yours wasn't steady, and the word got around. It just got to be known he wasn't reliable." "Why did he lose the job at Dill's? It was because he boozed, wasn't it?" "Why, I can't say," Harkavy replied, and Leventhal thought that he looked at him anxiously. "I haven't got the inside information on it. As it came to me, the reason was different. In these cases, though, you get all kinds of rumors. Who knows? The truth is hard to get at. If your life depended on getting it, you'd probably hang. I don't have to tell you how it is. This one says this, and that one says that. Y says oats, and Z says hay, and chances are... it's buckwheat. Nobody can tell you except the fellow that harvested it. To the rest it's all theory. Why? He was skating on thin ice and he had to skate fast, faster and faster. But he slowed up... and he fell through. As I see it..." Harkavy himself was discontented with this explanation; it was obviously makeshift. He faltered and his glance wandered. He had, unmistakably, information that he was trying to hold back. "Why did he lose the job? What do they say?" "There's no 'they'." "Dan, don't try to give me the runaround. This is something I won't rest easy about till I know. It's no trifle. You must tell me what they say." "If you don't mind, Asa, there's one thing I have to point out that you haven't learned. We're not children. We're men of the world. It's almost a sin to be so innocent. Get next to yourself, boy, will you? You want the whole world to like you. There're bound to be some people who don't think well of you. As I do, for instance. Why, isn't it enough for you that some do? Why can't you accept the fact that others never will? Figure it on a percentile basis. Is it a life and death matter? I happen to have found out that a young lady I always liked said I was conceited. Perhaps she didn't think it
Similar Books
