It is not that my clothes are unpresentable,--it is I, myself, who am unfit to stand in your presence, much less to enter your house.

I thank you, but I must go." He was turning away, when Auntie Sue reached his side and placed her gentle old hand lightly on his arm.
"Please, won't you come in, sir?
I shall never forgive myself if I let you go like this." The man's voice was hoarse and shaking, now, as he answered: "For God's sake, madam, don't touch me! Let me go! You must! I--I--am not myself! You might not be safe with me! Ask her--she knows!" He turned to Judy.
"He's done said hit, ma'm," said Judy, in answer to Auntie Sue's questioning look.

"My pap, he was that way when he done smashed me up agin the wall, when I was nothin' but a baby, an' hit made me grow up all crooked an' ugly like what I be now." With one shamed glance at Auntie Sue, the wretched fellow looked down at the ground.

His head drooped forward.

His shoulders sagged.