A gang of laborers were digging the foundations for a large brownstone house, and McTeague found interest and amusement in leaning over the barrier that surrounded the excavations and watching the progress of the work.

He came to see it every afternoon; by and by he even got to know the foreman who superintended the job, and the two had long talks together.

Then McTeague would return to Polk Street and find Heise in the back room of the harness shop, and occasionally the day ended with some half dozen drinks of whiskey at Joe Frenna's saloon.
It was curious to note the effect of the alcohol upon the dentist.
It did not make him drunk, it made him vicious.

So far from being stupefied, he became, after the fourth glass, active, alert, quick-witted, even talkative; a certain wickedness stirred in him then; he was intractable, mean; and when he had drunk a little more heavily than usual, he found a certain pleasure in annoying and exasperating Trina, even in abusing and hurting her.
It had begun on the evening of Thanksgiving Day, when Heise had taken McTeague out to dinner with him.

The dentist on this occasion had drunk very freely.