She was the bane of my life. The bookbinder's wife was much
younger than her husband and one of the things I often heard was
that he was "crazy for her because she is his second wife," from
which I inferred that second wives were loved far more than first
ones.

The bookbinder had a red-haired little girl whom I hated like
poison. Red Esther we called her, to distinguish her from a Black
Esther, whose home was on the same yard. She was full of fight.
Knowing how repulsive she was to me, she was often the first to
open hostilities, mocking my way of speaking, or sticking out her
tongue at me. Or else she would press her freckled cheek against
my lips and then dodge back, shouting, gloatingly: "He has kissed
a girl! He has kissed a girl! Sinner! Shame! Sinner! Sinner!"

There were some other things that she or some of the other little
girls of our courtyard would do to make an involuntary "sinner" of
me, but these had better be left out

I had many a fierce duel with her. I was considered a strong boy,
but she was quick and nimble as a cat, and I usually got the worst
of the bargain, often being left badly scratched and bleeding. At
which point the combat would be taken up by our mothers

The room, part of which was our home, and two other single-room
apartments, similarly tenanted, opened into a pitch-dark vestibule
which my fancy peopled with "evil ones." A steep stairway led up
to the yard, part of which was occupied by a huddle of ramshackle
one-story houses. It was known as Abner's Court. During the