Gilmore laughed.

"How would you like one of them?" he asked.

Montgomery gave him a swift glance of alarm.

"No, boss, I'm a respectable married man, and if I lugged one of them
ladies home with me, my old woman wouldn't do a thing but raise hell!
Boss, they're raw; yes, sir, that's it--they're raw!" Then fearing he
had gone too far in an adverse criticism, he added, "Friends of yours,
boss?"

"Not all of them!" said Gilmore, with lazy amusement.

"Catched unawares?" hinted Montgomery. But Gilmore changed the subject
abruptly.

"Well, what did you come here for?" he demanded.

"I got a lot of things on my mind, boss! I been a-worryin' all morning
and then I thinks of you. 'Mr. Gilmore's the man to go to,' I tells
myself, and I quit my job and come here."

He stuck his head into the grate again, but this time without apology.

"I suppose you are in trouble?" said Gilmore, and his genial mood seemed
to chill suddenly.

"You're right, boss, I'm in a heap of trouble!"