“Why not go?” demanded Moisheh.
“Sure you got to go,” urged the mother, as she placed the food before him. “The landlord only got to see how smart you are and he’ll pull you in the richest customers from uptown.”
Feivel looked at his clothes with resigned contempt. “H—m,” he smiled bitterly. “Go in this shabby suit? I have too much respect for myself.”
There was troubled silence. Both brother and mother were miserable that their dear one should be so deprived.
Moisheh moved over to the window, a worried look on his face. Presently he turned to his brother. “I’d give you the blood from under my nails for you but I’m yet so behind with the instalment man.”
The doctor stamped his foot impatiently. “I simply have to have a suit! It’s a question of life and death.... Think of the chance! The landlord took a liking to me—rich as Rockefeller—and an only daughter. If he gives me a start in an uptown office I could coin money. All I need is a chance—the right location. Ten—twenty—fifty dollars an hour. There’s no limit to a dentist’s fee. If he sets me up on Riverside Drive I could charge a hundred dollars for work I get five for in Rutgers Street!”
“Can I tear myself in pieces? Squeeze the money from my flesh?”
“But do you realize that, once I get uptown, I could earn more in an hour than you could in a month? I’ll pay you back every penny a hundred times over.”
“Nu—tell me only—what can I do? Anything you’ll say——”
“Why—you have your gold watch.”