Outside the Law

hey swooped down on some strange-looking pedestal into which they inserted a coin and then gazed in half-embarrassed amusement through an eyepiece. The results of these operations were more or less amusing?judging from the aftermath of expressions; some were evidently disappointing and not up to the framed samples. A few of the patrons began at the beginning and sidled down the whole length of the exhibit, with an evident desire to get the worth of their money. Others flitted from pillar topost, sipping in butterfly fashion the pleasures of the peep show. A keen-eyed, lantern-jawed little man, in a neat but overcleaned suit of clothes and a flaring red necktie, was one of those who flitted. He had been there a long time? once or twice had gone as far as the door, only to return again. On the last of these attempts to break from the fascinations the place afforded, he perceived the distinguished stranger. Turning back with an air of recklessness, he spent a penny for the experience of watching a pillow fight between several plump and elderly females, labeled " Fun in a Dormitory." When he looked up the stranger stood beside, viewing the next penny's worth entitled "The Old Maid's Last Chance." In no place in the world is it easier for people to scrape an acquaintance than at a cheap show. The mere fact that they are half ashamed of their presence excites a bond of sympathy. So it was most natural for the little man in the much-cleaned suit to speak wi...