Joe had not even heard
of his marriage. Meanwhile, my enthusiasm for paying him his
debt was gone, and I was rather glad that I had not found him
It was the middle of July. The great "winter season" was
developing. I felt perfectly competent to make a whole garment
unaided. It was doubtful, however, whether I should be readily
accepted as an independent mechanic in the shop where I was
employed now and where one was in the habit of regarding me as
a mere apprentice. So I was determined to seek employment
elsewhere. Joe was suspicious. Not that I betrayed my plans in any
way. He took them for granted. And so he visited me every day,
on all sorts of pretexts, dined me and wined me (if the phrase may
be applied to a soda-water dinner), and watched my every step
Finally I wearied of it all, and one afternoon, as we were seated in
the restaurant, I picked a quarrel with him
"I don't want your dinners," I burst out, "and I don't want to be
watched by you as if I were a recruit in the Russian army and you
were my 'little uncle.
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