The little fellow broke down and sobbed pitifully, while Dora said:
“Don’t cry, Loney. Don’t cry. We will take good care of you.”
“And then I sold papers and half-starved. The other boys kicked me around a lot and made fun of me ’cause I couldn’t remember. And they named me Loney, and then I came here; and your father lets me run errands—and—that’s all.”
“Don’t you worry, Loney. You know what my father says, that when business picks up a little he will take you to the good doctor and see if you can’t be cured, so you will remember.”
“That’s hard for me to think out, Dora.”
“Why hard? What do you mean?”
“I am nothing to your father. He is poor, and it seems so funny, for he is—is——”
“A Jew. Say it, Loney. Don’t be afraid. A Jew can be a good man, an honest one, a good father, and a good citizen. He loves me, his daughter, and he has a heart—a big one—for all in need. He has pity for them. You are mistaken if you think differently. I have seen him divide his last crust with the hungry—yes, and give them the largest share. Oh, Loney, my father is good.”
“You are right. He has divided with me; and, Dora, some day God will bless him for it.”
At that moment there were steps heard on the rickety cellar-steps, and in another moment a young man—scarcely more than a boy—came to the door. He was a typical “Bowery tough,” made so by his life in this part of the city, with its most unsavory reputation. He wore a faded corduroy cap, set at an aggressive angle on his frowsy head, and for the rest of his costume he wore a blue flannel shirt, open at the throat, and corduroy pantaloons. His shoes looked as though in urgent need of the services of the shoemaker. His face was dirty, and one of his eyes was blackened and swollen. And, over it all, there showed something so depraved and sinister, such a drawn look of pallor and decay, in spite of his youth, a stranger would not have known how to classify this strange output of city life, but the initiated would have summed it all up in one word—dope. This means the unutterable depravity of opium-smoking. In fact, he was generally known in his haunts as Dopey.