But the boy is too proud to cry poverty among strangers.

He keeps his end up like a man.

To hear him talk, one would think he not only hadn't a care in the world, but that he commanded the earth.

How can one help admiring the boy's pluck and--that's where my reticence comes in--respecting the boy's reserve ?" "H'm!" said Colonel Winwood.
"But, good gracious, Jim, dear, supposing you--or any of us--men, I mean--had been in this boy's extraordinary position--would you have acted differently?
You would have died rather than give your poverty away to absolute strangers to whom you were indebted, in the way this boy is indebted to us.

Good God, jim"-- she sent her dessert knife skimming across the table--"don't you see?
Any reference to poverty would be an invitation--a veiled request for further help.