Resolved not to listen to the intruder, Sophie debated within herself: “Should I call my essay ‘Believe in Yourself,’ or wouldn’t it be stronger to say, ‘Trust Yourself’? But if I say, ‘Trust Yourself,’ wouldn’t they think that I got the words from Emerson?” Hanneh Breineh’s voice went on, but it sounded to Sophie like a faint buzzing from afar. “Gotteniu! How much did it cost me my life to go and swear myself that my little Fannie--only skin and bones--that she is already fourteen! How it chokes me the tears every morning when I got to wake her and push her out to the shop when her eyes are yet shutting themselves with sleep!” Sophie glanced at her wrist-watch as it ticked away the precious minutes. She must get rid of the woman! Had she not left her own sister, sacrificed all comfort, all association, for solitude and its golden possibilities? For the first time in her life she had the chance to be by herself and think. And now, the thoughts which a moment ago had seemed like a flock of fluttering birds had come so close--and this woman with her sordid wailing had scattered them. “I’m a savage, a beast, but I got to ask her to get out--this very minute,” resolved Sophie. But before she could summon the courage to do what she wanted to do, there was a timid knock at the door, and the wizened little Fannie, her face streaked with tears, stumbled in. “The inspector said it’s a lie. I ain’t yet fourteen,” she whimpered. Hanneh Breineh paled. “Woe is me! Sent back from the shop? God from the world--is there no end to my troubles? Why didn’t you hide yourself when you saw the inspector come?” “I was running to hide myself under the table, but she caught me and she said she’ll take me to the Children’s Society and arrest me and my mother for sending me to work too soon.” “Arrest me?” shrieked Hanneh Breineh, beating her breast. “Let them only come and arrest me! I’ll show America who I am! Let them only begin themselves with me!... Black is for my eyes ... the groceryman will not give us another bread till we pay him the bill!” “The inspector said ...” The child’s brow puckered in an effort to recall the words. “What did the inspector said? Gotteniu!” Hanneh Breineh wrung her hands in passionate entreaty. “Listen only once to my prayer! Send on the inspector only a quick death! I only wish her to have her own house with twenty-four rooms and each of the twenty-four rooms should be twenty-four beds and the chills and the fever should throw her from one bed to another!” “Hanneh Breineh, still yourself a little,” entreated Sophie. “How can I still myself without Fannie’s wages? Bitter is me! Why do I have to live so long?” “The inspector said ...” “What did the inspector said? A thunder should strike the inspector! Ain’t I as good a mother as other mothers? Wouldn’t I better send my children to school? But who’ll give us to eat? And who’ll pay us the rent?” Hanneh Breineh wiped her red-lidded eyes with the corner of her apron.