three o'clock before
The bank and the staff became a machine and the parts thereof , as if incited to action by the combustion of certain gas-mixtures in the place . Especially the teller 's head took on the character of a metallic organism : he could almost hear the wheels buzzing . Occasionally a cog somewhere grated , as , for instance , when a drover brought in a cheque for $ 500 and had to wait in line behind the wife of a neighbor whom he hated , until she got $ 1.79 for her produce ticket , and had deposited $ 1 to the credit of Janet Jorgens in trust for little Harry Jorgens . It was three o'clock before Evan had a chance to eat lunch . It lay on the little table in his box , dry and sour . He looked at it with enmity , and , snatching a few bites of this and that , which he washed down with cold water , threw the remainder in a waste-basket , and went back to the dirty money . Penton was all aglow .