size had ever floored me before. I tried hard to remember he
was Gabrielle's father, and out of respect for her I should not injure
him. He then piled in on me again. 'That is not all,' he said.
'Gabrielle is ambitious. You are lazy. You have wasted your youth. Look
at you! A man of your age who has done nothing yet!'"
From this I gathered that Tescheron's objections were at first personal.
He did not find Jim to his liking and was probably urging his daughter
to regard the suitor in the same light. Later in the day the better
excuse learned from the great detective bureau came to his support.
"What do you think of that, Ben?" continued Jim. "What has he done to
brag about? Should I bring a birth certificate?"
"Yes, but he is not marrying Gabrielle himself," said I. "He is trying
to help her to find a good husband. You must be generous, Jim, and give
a father his due."
"Shucks! He spends all his pay on his clothes. Such a dresser you never
saw, and what is he? A rubber-neck, that's all."
"A what?"
"I asked one of the fellows who worked where he does, some time ago,
what old man Tescheron did, and he told me he was a rubber-neck. Now, I
know very well that a rubber-neck is a fellow who goes around to corner
groceries to see what other kinds of crackers are sold there besides the
brands furnished by his house. He starts in talking about the price of
green-groceries, drifts along for five or ten minutes, and keeps
squinting over the cracker boxes. To stave off suspicion he buys an
apple, peels it carefully and eats it slowly, while he incidentally
craves a cracker and proceeds to pump the innocent grocer on his cracker
business. He writes out his notes in full afterward and that grocer is
then described on a card index at the main office as handling such and
such goods. I ought to know what rubber-necks are, having been around
groceries enough."
"A sort of cracker detective," said I.
"That's all. A common, ordinary rubber-neck--gets about fifteen a week.
By the way he dresses you'd think he had a king's job. Think of him
looking down upon me. Small as I am, I lead him."
"I wonder would he turn up his nose at me, an Inspector of Offensive
Trades?" I queried, sadly. "But go ahead, Jim, and stick to your story,
for I can see that there is plenty of trouble ahead for you."
This startled Jim into a more direct presentation of his problem.
"Well, I up and told him, said I: 'Mr. Tescheron, Miss Gabrielle a
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