"How can you say so, young gentleman?"
"Because it's true. The man took it from my sister, and carried it off. How much did you pay for it?"
"I gave two dollars and a half," said the old man, judging from the newsboy's tone that it was useless to persist in his denial. "You may have it for three dollars."
"That's too much. I don't believe you gave more than a dollar. I'll give you a dollar and a half."
The old man tried hard to get more, but as Rough and Ready was firm, and, moreover, as he had only given fifty cents for the dress an hour before, he concluded that he should be doing pretty well in making two hundred per cent. profit, and let it go.
The newsboy at once paid the money, and asked if his sister could put it on there. A door in the back part of the shop was opened, revealing an inner room, where Rose speedily made the change, and emerged into the street with her old dress rolled up in a bundle.
CHAPTER IV.
A FORTUNATE MEETING.
"Where are we going, Rufus?" asked Rose, as they left the subterranean shop.
"That's what I'm trying to think, Rose," said her brother, not a little perplexed.
To tell the truth, Rough and Ready had acted from impulse, and without any well-defined plan in his mind. He had resolved to take Rose from her old home, if it deserved the name, and for reasons which the reader will no doubt pronounce sufficient; but he had not yet had time to consider where they should live in future.