"Phat are you trying to do?" asked the officer as he came up.
"I want to get in;" and Richard related the particulars of his plight.
"You'll have a job, me b'y," was the reply. "Mrs. Betty slapes like a log."
They waited for several minutes in silence. But nobody appeared and no sound came from within.
"Phat are you going to do?" asked the policeman finally.
"I don't know, I'm sure. My valise is inside with my money. I've only got twenty cents in change in my pocket."
"There's a lodging-house in Washington Street where you can get a bed for that," went on the officer. "But it's not over clean."
"I don't want to go where it's dirty," replied the boy, shuddering.
And for a brief instant a vision of his own neat and tidy cot at home floated through his mind.
"Well, oi dunno; you can't stay out here."