“Oh, so it's that!” said he, and was silent again. “Some one's been troubling you?” he ventured after a while.
“Sure! Some one's always troublin' us women! Always! Never a day but we hear it. Winks and nudges—everywhere ye turn.”
“Who is it?”
“The bosses, the clerks—anybody that has a chance to wear a stiff collar, and thinks he can offer money to a girl. It begins before she's out of short skirts, and there's never any peace afterwards.”
“And you can't make them understand?”
“I've made them understand me a bit; now they go after my old man.”
“What?”
“Sure! D'ye suppose they'd not try that? Him that's so crazy for liquor, and can never get enough of it!”
“And your father?—” But Hal stopped. She would not want that question asked!
She had seen his hesitation, however. “He was a decent man once,” she declared. “'Tis the life here, that turns a man into a coward. 'Tis everything ye need, everywhere ye turn—ye have to ask favours from some boss. The room ye work in, the dead work they pile on ye; or maybe 'tis more credit ye need at the store, or maybe the doctor to come when ye're sick. Just now 'tis our roof that leaks—so bad we can't find a dry place to sleep when it rains.”