t!"

"It's your old woman. She--she don't know you like I do, Max. She--"

"Now, now, Mae! You knew this had to come sooner or later, I 'ain't
never lied, have I? Right here in this room 'ain't you told me a dozen
times you'd let me go quietly when the time came? 'Ain't you?"

"I never thought you meant it, Max. You don't mean it now. Don't let
your old woman upset you, dear. What she don't know won't hurt her.
Stick around her a little more if you think she's got a hunch about me
and the flat. But she 'ain't, dearie; there ain't a chance in the world
she's got a hunch about me. Don't let her make a mollycoddle out of you,
Max. That old woman don't know enough about life and things to--"

"You cut that and cut it quick! I'm a decent fellow, I am. For six years
I been tipping you off to leave my mother's name out--out of your mouth.
There's a place for everything and, by gad! your mouth ain't the place
for her name! By gad! I ain't no saint, but I won't stand for that! By
gad! I--I won't!"

"Oh-h-h-h-h! Oh-h-h-h! Oh-h-h!"

She struck her breast twice with the flat of her hand, her voice so
tight and high that it carried with it the quality of strangulation.

"Ain't fit to mention her name, ain't I? Ain't fit to mention her name?
My kind ain't fit to mention her name, eh?"

"No, if you got to know it. Not--like that! My old mother's name. Not
like that!"

"Not fit, eh? What are we fit for, then, us that only get the husks of
you men and nothing else?"

"I--"

"What am I fit for? Fit to run to when your decent friends won't stand
for you? Fit to run to when you get mixed up in rotten customs deals?
Fit to stand between you and hell when you got the law snapping at your
heels for--for smuggling? Who was fit to run to then? Her whose name I
ain't fit to mention? Her? Naw, you was afraid she'd turn on you. Naw,
not her! Me! Me! I'm the one whose mouth is too dirty to mention your
old lady's name--"

"By gad! you got to cut that or--"

"Just the same, who was it you hollered for when you woke up in the
hospital with your back like raw meat? Who was it you hollered for then?
Her whose name I ain't fit to mention? Naw, it wasn't! Me! Me! I was
good enough then. I was good enough to smuggle you out of town overnight
when you was dodging the law, and to sleep in my clothes for two weeks,
ready to give the signal."

"That's right, dig up! Dig up! You might forget something."

"I been good enough to give you free