y mother," she said.

"Of course, of course," he quavered, repellently, so that her cheeks
began to feel hot again. She was deeply hurt by his tone of suspicion.
The sacrifice was bad enough--the implication was unbearable.

"I don't think you want it," she said, coldly. "Give it back to me. I
can perhaps do better at a regular pawnshop."

But he detained her again, becoming smooth and oily. He first offered
her fifty dollars. She truthfully asserted that her father had paid a
couple of hundred for it. After long bargaining and haggling he
finally agreed to give her eighty-five dollars and, worn out, the girl
accepted. She was going out of the shop, with the money, when she
stopped again.

"It seems to me that I used to see pistols, or were they revolvers, in
your show window," she said.

He lifted up his hands in alarm.

"Pistols! revolvers! Don't you know there's the Sullivan law now? We
ain't allowed to sell 'em--and you ain't allowed to buy 'em without a
license--a license from the police."

"Oh! That's a pity," said Madge. "I'm going away from New York and I
thought it might be a good idea to have one with me."

The old man looked keenly at her again, scratching one ear with
unkempt nails. Finally he drew her back of a counter, placing a finger
to his lips.

"I'm taking chances," he whispered. "I'm doing it to oblige. If ye
tell any one you got it here I'll say you never did. My word's as good
as yours."

"I tell you I'm going away," she repeated. "I--I'm never coming to
this city again--never as long as I live. But I want to take it with
me."

When she finally went out she carried a cheap little weapon worth
perhaps four dollars, and a box of cartridges, for which she paid him
ten of the dollars he had handed out to her. It was with a sense of
inexpressible relief that she found herself again on the avenue, in
spite of the drizzle that was coming down. The air seemed purer after
her stay in the uninviting place. Its atmosphere as well as the old
man's ways had made her feel as if she had been engaged in a very
illicit transaction. She met a policeman who was swinging his club,
and the man gave her an instant of carking fear. But he paid not the
slightest heed to her and she went on, breathing more freely. It was
as if the great dark pall of clouds hanging over the city was being
torn asunder. At any rate the world seemed to be a little brighter.

She went home and deposited her purchase, going out