old man gave me fully what they cost me."

"Let us go at once to Rumble's," said the other, seizing his hat, and
the two sallied forth into the night and the storm.

Down the street they went before the wind-driven snow. Fortunately
they did not have far to go.

When they opened the door of Rumble's shop, the old pawnbroker looked
up in surprise. The tempest seemed to have blown his visitors in. The
windows rattled; the lights flared; fantastic garments, made in the
style of by-gone centuries, swayed to and fro where they hung, as
though the shapes that might have worn them haunted the place; a set
of armor, that stood in one corner, clanked as though the spirit of
some dead paladin had entered it and was striving to stalk forth and
do battle with the demons of the storm; while the gust that had
occasioned all this commotion in the little shop went careering
through the rooms at the rear, causing papers to fly, doors to slam,
and a sweet voice to exclaim:

"Why, father, what is the matter?"

"Nothing, my dear, it is only the wind," answered the old man, as he
advanced to receive his visitors.

The one with whom he was acquainted nodded familiarly to the
pawnbroker, while he of the rueful countenance pulled off his ulster
and threw it on the counter, saying:

"How much will you give me on that?"

Rumble, who was a large man, rather fleshy and slow of movement,
started toward the back of the shop with a lazy roll, like a ship
under half sail. He made a tack around the end of the counter and hove
to behind it, opposite the men who had just come in. He pulled his
spectacles down from the top of his bald head, where they had been
resting, drew the coat toward him, looked at it for an instant, then
raised his eyes till they met those of his customer.

"How much do you think it is worth?" he said, uttering the words
slowly and casting a commiserating glance at the thinly-clad form of
the man before him.

"I paid twenty dollars for it," said the young man. "It is worth ten
dollars, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes!" returned the pawnbroker. "Shall I loan you ten dollars on
it?"

"If you please," answered his customer, whose face brightened when he
heard the pawnbroker's words. He had thought he might get five dollars
on the ulster. The prospect of getting ten made him feel like a man of
affluence.

The pawnbroker opened a book and began to fill the blanks in one of
the many printed slips it contained. One of the blanks he