Mr. Dolphus is not an evil man; there have been malicious rumors about him because of his fiancee's suicide and because he simply does not conform to the social mores of Maycomb.
In Chapter 16 the children watch the crowd forming to attend the trial and they observe Mr. Dolphus Raymond with the Negroes in the far corner of the square. Jem explains his association with the black people as caused by his fiancee's suicide years ago. Supposedly, she found out that he had "a colored woman" that he wanted to keep even after being married. But, this is rumor and no one knows exactly why the fiancee shot herself.
Later, in Chapter 19 as Tom Robinson is on the stand, Mr. Gilbert berates Tom when he says that he felt sorry for Mayella, twisting Tom's meaning with the suggestive tone of his rhetorical question, "You felt sorry for her?" that Tom, a Negro, should not have dared to have had the audacity to criticize this white person (no matter that she is "trash").
This cruel, insulting treatment of Tom causes the sensitive Dill to cry. So, Jem and Scout take Dill outside. Then, in Chapter 20, they encounter Mr. Raymond, who comes over to comfort Dill. He confides in the children that his drink, hidden by a paper sack, is merely Coca-Cola, but he pretends to be a drunkard so that the Maycomb high society can reconcile his behavior more easily than to admit that he is repulsed by their own hypocrisy. "It ain't honest, but it's mighty helpful to folks," he explains; for, this behavior can be explained from their perspectives.
Further, with great kindness, Mr. Raymond explains to Dill that his tears are for "the simple hell people give other people--without even thinking," and that the white people of the town never consider that the blacks are people, too. As more explanation, he tells the children to just step back into the courthouse and they will learn even more about their town.
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