“How will you prevent that, ma’am?”
Mrs. Middleton again put her hand on the man’s tattered coat sleeve, and, in a voice scarcely above a whisper, said:
“Mr. Rugg, you must prevent it.”
“How can I prevent it?” asked the tramp, with an assumption of innocence.
Mrs. Middleton said, with slow significance:
“This boy is in my way. Don’t you think he might manage to get sick and die?”
“Perhaps he might,” said Rudolph, who did not appear to be shocked at the suggestion.
Couldn’t you manage it?” she asked.
I might,” he answered shrewdly, “if it was going to do me any good.”
“Then the only question is as to pay,” she continued.