"I am going to do that."
They went up Broadway to Grand street, and then turned toward the Bowery. Both lived on the east side, above Grand street, in the densely populated districts where rents were cheap and everybody poor. Adah had not come in from the store. His aunt was very tired from the labor of a hard day's wash, and therefore not in the best of humor.
"What brought you home so soon?" she asked, looking at him.
"Just to make you stop work. You are killing yourself, aunt."
"Would you tell me which is the best way to die–of hard work or starvation?" she asked.
"Oh, we are not going to die for a long time yet. You'll marry again, and we'll all be rich."
She straightened herself up by the side of the tub and glared at him.
"What's the matter with you, Freddie?" she asked. "Are you sick, child?"
Fred laughed and said:
"Not sick, but tired."