Chapter Sixteen: Drink can Loosen the Tongue…The gin house was a dank and dreary place, the few lit gas lamps unable to penetrate the gloom with their feeble, utterly inadequate light. In one particularly dark corner, the pawnbroker sat, features hidden by the brim of his hat. Even inside, he preferred people not to catch sight of his features. His was an unpopular and dangerous profession. Many hated him for what he did, his charging of excessive interest, the paltry offers of loans he'd make on good quality merchandise. In the past, some had tried to intimidate him, a few had attempted violence. No one had succeeded. In addition to the deliberate air of menace he created about him, he was also perfectly capable of the most extreme violence – to which Rooster could testify, if he were sti
