No, surely Guffey would not take such a
chance! Peter walked very slowly to the door, he opened the door
reluctantly, he stood there, holding on as if he were too weak to
keep his balance; he waited--waited--
And sure enough, Guffey spoke. "Come back here, you mut!" And Peter
turned and started towards the head detective, stretching out his
hands in a gesture of submission; if it had been in an Eastern
country, he would have fallen on his knees and struck his forehead
three times in the dust. "Please, please, Mr. Guffey!" he wailed.
"Give me another chance!"
"If I put you to work again," snarled Guffey, "will you do what I
tell you, and not what you want to do yourself?"
"Yes, yes, Mr. Guffey."
"You'll do no more frame-ups but my frame-ups?"
"Yes, yes, Mr. Guffey."
"All right, then, I'll give you one more chance. But by God, if I
find you so much as winking at another girl, I'll pull your eye
teeth out!"
And Peter's heart leaped with relief. "Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr.
Guffey!"
"I'll pay you twenty dollars a week, and no more," said Guffey.
"You're worth more, but I can't trust you with money, and you can
take it or leave it."
"That'll be perfectly satisfactory, Mr.
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