“Oh, mommy, mommy!” And she buried her hot, revealing face into the fresh net V.

“Why—­why, baby, a—­a boy like that!”

“Twenty-three, mama, ain’t a boy!”

“But, Ruby, just a clerk in his father’s hotel, and two older brothers already in it.  A—­a boy that ’ain’t got a start yet.”

“That’s just it, ma.  We—­we’re waiting!  Waiting before we talk even—­even much to each other yet.  Maybe—­maybe his uncle Meyer is going to take him in the business, but it ain’t sure yet.  We—­”

“A little yellow-haired boy like him that—­that can’t support you, baby, unless you live right there in his mother’s and father’s hotel away—­away from me!”

“Ma!”

“Ruby, a smart girl like you.  A little snip what don’t make salt yet, when you can have the uncle hisself!”

“I can’t help it, ma!  If—­if—­the first time Vetsy took me down to—­to the shore, if—­if Leo had been a king or a—­or just what he is, it wouldn’t make no difference.  I—­I can’t help my—­my feelings, ma.  I can’t!”

A large furrow formed between Mrs. Kaufman’s eyes, darkening her.

“You wouldn’t, Ruby!” she said, clutching her.

“Oh, mommy, mommy, when a—­a girl can’t help a thing!”

“He ain’t good enough for you, baby!”

“He’s ten times too good; that—­that’s all you know about it.  Mommy, please!  I—­I just can’t help it, dearie.  It’s just like when I—­I saw him a—­a clock began to tick inside of me.  I—­”

“O my God!” said Mrs. Kaufman, drawing her hand across her brow.

“His uncle Meyer, ma, ’s been hinting all along he—­he’s going to give Leo his start and take him in the business.  That’s why we—­we’re waiting without saying much, till it looks more like—­like we can all be together, ma.”

“All my dreams!  My dreams I could give up the house!  My baby with a well-to-do husband maybe on Riverside Drive.  A servant for herself, so I could pass, maybe, Mrs. Suss and Mrs. Katz by on the street.  Ruby, you—­you wouldn’t, Ruby.  After how I’ve built for you!”

“Oh, mama, mama, mama!”

“If you ’ain’t got ambitions for yourself, Ruby, think once of me and this long dream I been dreaming for—­us.”

“Yes, ma.  Yes.”

“Ruby, Ruby, and I always thought when you was so glad for Atlantic City, it was for Vetsburg; to show him how much you liked his folks.  How could I know it was—.”

“I never thought, mommy.  Why—­why, Vetsy he’s just like a relation or something.”

“I tell you, baby, it’s just an idea you got in your head.”

“No, no, mama.  No, no.”

Suddenly Mrs. Kaufman threw up her hands, clasping them tight against her eyes, pressing them in frenzy.  “O my God!” she cried.  “All for nothing!” and fell to moaning through her laced fingers.  “All for nothing!  Years.  Years.  Years.”

“Mommy darling!”

“Oh—­don’t, don’t!  Just let me be.  Let me be.  O my God!  My God!”