“He makes out a whole case that I’m responsible for his wife and everything…!” said Leventhal, his voice rising nearly to a cry.
“His wife? That’s far-fetched, far-fetched,” said Harkavy. “I wouldn’t listen to stuff like that.”
“You think I do? I’d have to be crazy too. How could anybody? Could you?”
“No, no, I say it’s far-fetched. He’s overstraining the imagination. He must have a loose screw.” Harkavy twisted a finger near his head and sighed. “But the story went round that he was canned, and then I heard that he couldn’t get another job. They canned him at quite a few places before.”
“Because of drinking…”
Harkavy shrugged. His face was wrinkled and he was half turned away from Leventhal. “Maybe. He wasn’t in good anywhere, as I heard it, and he was just about running out of breaks when he got the job with Dill’s.”
“Who told you that?”
“Offhand I don’t recollect.”
“Do you think there’s a black list, Dan? When I talked over that Rudiger thing with you, you laughed at the idea.”
“Did I? Well, I don’t believe in such stuff in general.”
“All right, here’s proof. You see? There is a black list.”
“I’m not convinced. This man of yours wasn’t steady, and the word got around. It just got to be known he wasn’t reliable.”
“Why did he lose the job at Dill’s? It was because he boozed, wasn’t it?”
“Why, I can’t say,” Harkavy replied, and Leventhal thought that he looked at him anxiously. “I haven’t got the inside information on it. As it came to me, the reason was different. In these cases, though, you get all kinds of rumors. Who knows? The truth is hard to get at. If your life depended on getting it, you’d probably hang. I don’t have to tell you how it is. This one says this, and that one says that. Y says oats, and Z says hay, and chances are… it’s buckwheat. Nobody can tell you except the fellow that harvested it. To the rest it’s all theory. Why? He was skating on thin ice and he had to skate fast, faster and faster. But he slowed up… and he fell through. As I see it…” Harkavy himself was discontented with this explanation; it was obviously makeshift. He faltered and his glance wandered. He had, unmistakably, information that he was trying to hold back.
“Why did he lose the job? What do they say?”
“There’s no ‘they’.”
“Dan, don’t try to give me the runaround. This is something I won’t rest easy about till I know. It’s no trifle. You must tell me what they say.”
“If you don’t mind, Asa, there’s one thing I have to point out that you haven’t learned. We’re not children. We’re men of the world. It’s almost a sin to be so innocent. Get next to yourself, boy, will you? You want the whole world to like you. There’re bound to be some people who don’t think well of you. As I do, for instance. Why, isn’t it enough for you that some do? Why can’t you accept the fact that others never will? Figure it on a percentile basis. Is it a life and death matter? I happen to have found out that a young lady I always liked said I was conceited. Perhaps she didn’t think it would get to me, but it did. Too bad people everywhere don’t know what I’m really like. Or you. It would be a different universe. Things are too subtle for me; I have to knock along on common sense. What about this girl? I know she has reasons that she doesn’t understand herself. All I can say is, ‘Lady, God bless you, we all have our faults and are what we are. I have to take myself as I am or push off. I am all I have in this world. And with all my shortcomings my life is precious to me.’ My heart doesn’t sink. Experience has taught me to expect this once in a while. But you’re so upset when somebody doesn’t like you, or says this or that about you. A little independence, boy; it’s a weakness, positively.”
“I want you to tell me,” Leventhal persisted. “I’ll stick to you till you do. Considering what I’m being blamed for, it’s natural that I should want to find out.”
Harkavy gave in to him. “Williston thought you made trouble for this fellow when you went to Dill’s and you acted up. He kind of hinted that it was intentional.”
“What? Williston says that? Did he say that?”
“Well, something like it.”
“How could he? Is he such an idiot?” Pale, his lips tight, making a great effort to hold back his anger and the unaccountable fear that filled him, Leventhal put his hand to his throat and stared frowningly at Harkavy. He said loudly, “And did you stand up for me?”
“Naturally I said he was mistaken and did all I could. I told him he was wrong.”
“You ought to have said that I came to you immediately with the whole story about Rudiger. You even thought that it might be rigged up, that Allbee and Rudiger wanted to make a fool of me and it was hatched out by the two of them. Did you bring that up?”
“No, I didn’t take the trouble.”
“Why not!” He swiftly clenched his fist as though catching at something in the air. “Why not!” he demanded. “It was your duty if you’re a friend of mine. Even if you didn’t know the facts you should have defended me. And you did know the facts. I told them to you. You should have said it was a slander and a lie. If anybody repeated such a lie to me about you, you’d see how fast I’d take him up on it. It’s not only loyalty but fairness. And how did he know what I did at Dill’s? Why were you such a stick? Were you afraid to hurt his feelings by contradicting him?”
“I was not,” said Harkavy. His marveling eyes took Leventhal in, but he answered quietly. “I didn’t think it would benefit you if I argued with Williston. I just said that he was wrong.”
“My friend!”
“Yes, if you ever had one. I am your friend.”
“He might have asked me, before he said a thing like that, given me a chance to defend myself. He’d rather take that drunk Allbee’s word for it. Where’s their Anglo-Saxon fairness.. fair play?”
“It’s hard for me to understand Williston’s side of it. I had an idea he was pretty level.”
“Is it so hard?” Leventhal said bitterly. “I told you why Allbee said I was out for revenge. And if Williston believes that I went to Dill’s to make trouble, he must think what Allbee does, all around.”
“Who, Williston? Oh, you’re way off, boy, way off.”
“Oh, am I? Well, you don’t know what it’s all about, I can see that. Williston is too nice a fellow, you mean. Talk about being innocent! Talk about a man of the world! Any child knows more about these things than you do, Dan. If he has it in him to think it was that insult… the insult to you, too, Dan, come to think of it. If that’s what he believes…”
“Williston is a nice fellow,” said Harkavy. “Remember, he was nice to you.”
“I do remember. What makes you think I don’t? That’s exactly it. That’s what makes it so bad, horrible. That’s the evil part of it. Of course he helped me. So now if he wants to believe this about me he has the right? Can’t you see how it stacks up?” He groped. “Certainly he helped me.”
“You can be sure he doesn’t know what your Mr Allbee is up to and wouldn’t like it if he did. Regardless. I mean that he couldn’t believe that he says… that you ruined him. The man is off his trolley, sleuthing after you like that. He’s disturbed in his mind. Haven’t you ever seen such a case before? It’s very pitiful. It happened in the family. My father’s sister got strange during the change of life — said all the clocks were warning her to look out, look out, look out. Oh, she was just off. It was a calamity. She claimed that somebody was stealing out of her mailbox, taking letters. Oh, all kinds of things. I couldn’t begin to tell you. Well, obviously that’s the kind of case you’re up against. It’s disagreeable, but it’s nothing to be alarmed about. She started telling people that she was Krueger the match king’s widow, though my uncle was still living. Sometimes she said Cecil Rhodes, not Krueger. My grandfather fought in the Boer War. Where else could she have gotten that? She went to an institution, poor thing. How those ideas get into their heads only Heaven knows.”