"Tell me quick—do you hear? Quick, or mamma and papa—"
"Renie—'sh-h-h! They mustn't know—the old man mustn't; she mustn't, if—if I got to kill myself first. His heart—he—he mustn't, Renie—he mustn't know."
"Know what?"
"It's all up, Renie. I've done something—the worst thing I ever done in my life; but I didn't know while I was doing it, Renie, how—what it was. I swear I didn't! It was like borrowing, I thought. I was sure I could pay it back. I thought the system was a great one and—and I couldn't lose."
"Izzy—roulette again! You—you been losing at—at roulette again?"
"No, no; but they found out at—at the bank, Renie. I—oh, my God!
Nothing won't save me!"
"The bank, Izzy?"
"They found out, Renie. Yesterday, when the bank was closed, he—Uncle Isadore—put 'em on the books. Nothing won't save me now, Renie. He won't; you—you know him—hard as nails! Nothing won't save me. It's going to be stripes for me, Renie. Ma—the old man—stripes! I—I can't let 'em do it. I—I'll kill myself first. I can't let 'em—I—can't—I can't let 'em!"
He burrowed his head in her lap to stifle his voice, which slipped up and away from his control; and her icy hands and knees could feel his entire body trembling.
"'Sh-h-h, dearie! Try to tell me slow, dearie, for pa's and ma's sake, so—so we can fix it up somehow."