He was just
putting a finishing rub on the last one when the janitor discovered
what had been going on. He came at the boy in a great rage for he
wanted no one to have anything to do with the care of the building
except those whom he chose to hire.
"You take your traps an' clear out o' this now, an' don't you ever
dare to show your face here again," he shouted, angrily. "If I catch
ye here again I'll kick ye down the stairs!"
"P'raps Mr. Harris will have a word to say about that," replied
Theodore, coolly, for in one and another of the offices he had picked
up enough to convince him that the word of Mr. Harris was law in that
building. Then he added, in a much more friendly tone,
"Now, look here, mister. You're too busy a man to be cleaning
signs--'course you are. You've got to hire somebody t' do it an' the'
won't anybody do it better or fer less money 'n I will. I'm a-goin' to
make a reg'lar business of cleanin' brasses all 'round this
neighbourhood, an' if you'll stan' by me an' help me fix it all right
with the other bosses 'bout here--I'll see 't you don't lose anythin'
by it."
The janitor's fierce frown had slowly faded as the boy spoke. Nothing
pleased him so much as to be considered a person of influence, and had
Theodore been ever so shrewd he could have adopted no other line of
argument that would so quickly and effectually have changed an enemy
into a friend as did this that he hit upon merely by chance.
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