Madelene flinched when he touched her shoulder, but didn't say anything. She was sore from where the man had hit her with his cane. When he told her to go on into the examination room she suddenly reached into the bodice of her dress and took out a small leather pouch. Without a word she poured out the contents into the tiny palm of her trembling hand. Eagerly she held up the three pennies she had, as well as a yellow marble she had found on the street. It reminded her of the sun and so she had kept it.
"Is this enough, sir?" she asked weakly, a nervous look still on her bruised face. "It's all I have," she added in the same frightened voice.