, his face lengthening.

"Certainly not," agreed Johnny hurriedly. "You tell him you want a
month to rest up your eyes."

"I don't need it!" protested Heinrich.

"You only say that so you won't have to work in that shop, but, never
mind, I'll fix it so he offers it," patiently explained Johnny, and
proceeded to make it perfectly plain. "You say that you have come back
to work. Don't say another word."

"I have come back to work," repeated Schnitt.

"Then Ersten will ask you: 'In this place?' You say: 'Yes.'"

Heinrich began to shake his head vigorously, but Johnny gave him no
chance to refuse.

"You say: 'Yes'!" he emphatically insisted. "Ersten will tell you to
take a month off to rest your eyes."

Again Heinrich started to shake his head, and again Johnny hurried on.

"You say: 'Thank you'," he directed; "then you go away. Before your
month is up, Ersten will send for you in a new shop!"

"Will he promise it?"

"No," confessed Johnny. "I promised it but Ersten will do it."

Heinrich pondered the matter long and soberly.

"All right; I try it," he agreed.

"Three cheers!" said Johnny with a huge sigh of relief. "I'll be back
after you in about an hour." And he reluctantly paused long enough to
drink some of the wine which Carrie's husband helped to make. It was
probably good wine.

Ersten was in the cutting room when Johnny again arrived at the store,
and a clerk took his name up very dubiously. The clerk returned,
smiling with extreme graciousness, and informed the caller that he was
to walk straight back. Johnny found Ersten in spectacles and apron,
with a tape-line round his neck and a piece of chalk in his hand, and
wearing a very worried look, while all the workmen in the room appeared
subdued but highly nervous.

"Did you see him?" Ersten asked immediately.

"He is anxious to come back," Johnny was happy to state.

"When?" This very eagerly.

"To-day."

Ersten took his apron and the tape and threw them on a table with a
slam.

"I invite you to have a glass of Rheinthranen," he offered.

"Thanks," returned Johnny carelessly, not quite appreciating the
priceless honor. "I'll have Mr. Schnitt here in an hour, but you must
be careful what you say to him. He is stubborn."

"Sure, I know it," impetuously agreed Ersten. "He is an old assel. What
is to be said?" Johnny could feel the nervous tension of the room
lighten as Ersten walked out with him.

"It will be like this," Johnny explaine