Oh, I know them!" Cohen laughed--a dry laugh--in compliment to Peter's way of putting it--but there was no ring of humor in it.

He had been reading Jack's mind.

There was something behind the forced smile that Peter had missed--something deeper than the lines of anxiety and the haunted look in the eyes.

This was a different lad from the one with whom he had spent so pleasant an evening some weeks before.

What had caused the change?
"Don't you abuse them, Mr.Grayson--these pawn-brokers," he said in his slow, measured way.