Walking a Fine Line: Day 4

Word Count: 24,108

Summary of Events:

Having been told by Theresa that Mr. Varley had gone out of his way to help people or make sure that he set things straight when he made an error in calculating how much they were supposed to pay, Joseph asked her for a list of witnesses to corroborate her accounts, and by meeting them in the streets or having them come to his workplace while he was working once he'd received it, Joseph learned from all of them that Mr. Varley had, indeed, done the things that Theresa had attested to his doing…

Excerpt of the Day:

Joseph then started packaging up all of Mrs. O’Reilly’s purchases neatly.

“I’ve heard that Mr. Fannon has a new assistant at his shop,” Joseph said as he worked.

“More a clerk than an assistant, really,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “A very nice young man.”

“Is that so?” Joseph asked.

“Yes, indeed,” Mrs. O’Reilly replied. “He seems to me like he must be well-educated, or at least come from a well-educated family. I’m surprised he works in a butcher’s shop.”

“Where do you think he should work?” Joseph asked.

“A bank or a law office,” Mrs. O’Reilly replied. “Although with his honesty, he could make a good priest too.”

“Honesty?” Joseph asked.

“Yes, of course,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “Just a couple weeks ago I was there to purchase a roast for Sunday dinner and paid for it, thinking nothing of the price. The next time I was there he told me with the most genuine sincerity that he’d charged me too much for the roast by inadvertently charging me ninety one cents instead of nineteen, so he gave me a credit of the difference on my purchase to make it right.”

Joseph nodded. He presumed that the roast had been $1.19 not 19¢, as he was pretty sure roasts weren’t that cheap, even though Chicago was a city where a good deal of livestock were sent to be slaughtered and processed into meat for the whole nation.

“Now, I know that the Fannons are good, honest people,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “But you can never tell who’s inclined to be greedy these days. It’s entirely possible that a lesser man would’ve pocketed the overcharge to make sure the books balanced out and his employer was none the wiser while enriching himself, but I’m glad that the clerk didn’t.”

Nodding again, Joseph started on the final package.

“In fact, I’m quite impressed by him,” Mrs. O’Reilly said. “As I heard from Mrs. Walsh the other day that he apparently overcharged her by just two cents, but gave her the credit on her bill in order to make things right. In my case it was seventy two cents, which can buy something of substance, but two cents hardly buys much, yet he is so scrupulous that he couldn’t even let such a little discrepancy remain.”

Joseph nodded a third time. “Will you need some help with your packages, Mrs. O’Reilly?”

“No,” Mrs. O’Reilly replied. “Johnny was going to pick me up.” She turned and looked out the windows. “He should be here already.”

Evidently not seeing him, she strode toward the windows to have a greater field of vision along the streets. Joseph watched as she looked, thinking about her report. He knew Mrs. Walsh, but her name hadn’t been on Theresa’s list, suggesting she was one of the witnesses Theresa had forgotten, or that Theresa mayn’t have even witnessed her interaction at all.