“Well, there was his old everyday suit, but that got tore so bad Ma said she couldn't mend it, and there wasn't only his Sunday suit and his work clothes left.”
“You don't mean that he had to fight with those fellows?”
“Oh, no,—that was a long time ago. Say, this cigar is the real thing.”
“It ought to be good. It's a fifteen-cent-straight.”
“You don't say so!”
“I 'll tell you one thing, Alex.”
“My name's Axel.”
“I 'll tell you one thing. Your father has made a bad mistake in allowing himself to get mixed up with these people. He is with the wrong crowd. I'm the only one that could help him out.”
The boy began to be frightened. “Oh, he ain't mixed up in it!”
“He isn't?”