Answer: Poor people were expected to tolerate any ridicule made by the rich.
Step-by-step explanation:
The sentence that's implied is that poor people were expected to tolerate any ridicule made by the rich.
From the sentence, it was stated that the narrator was puzzled and water to discuss the matter further but wasn't allowed to.
The narrator left as he felt insulted due to the fact that he was some kind of joke to the rich.