A roar of laughter, and ‘Don’t you remember this day last year?’ followed the cunning guess.  For awhile explication was impossible; and Evan coloured, and smiled, and waited for them.

‘I was going to ask—­’

‘Said so!’ shouted the old boy, gleefully.

’—­one of the gentlemen who has engaged a bed-room to do me the extreme favour to step aside with me, and allow me a moment’s speech with him.’

Long faces were drawn, and odd stares were directed toward him, in reply.

’I see where ‘tis’; the old boy thumped his knee.  ’Ain’t it now?  Speak up, sir!  There’s a lady in the case?’

‘I may tell you thus much,’ answered Evan, ’that it is an unfortunate young woman, very ill, who needs rest and quiet.’

‘Didn’t I say so?’ shouted the old boy.

But this time, though his jolly red jowl turned all round to demand a confirmation, it was not generally considered that he had divined so correctly.  Between a lady and an unfortunate young woman, there seemed to be a strong distinction, in the minds of the company.

The chairman was the most affected by the communication.  His bushy eyebrows frowned at Evan, and he began tugging at the brass buttons of his coat, like one preparing to arm for a conflict.

‘Speak out, sir, if you please,’ he said.  ’Above board—­no asides—­no taking advantages.  You want me to give up my bed-room for the use of your young woman, sir?’

Evan replied quietly:  ’She is a stranger to me; and if you could see her, sir, and know her situation, I think she would move your pity.’

‘I don’t doubt it, sir—­I don’t doubt it,’ returned the chairman.  ’They all move our pity.  That’s how they get over us.  She has diddled you, and she would diddle me, and diddle us all-diddle the devil, I dare say, when her time comes.  I don’t doubt it, sir.’

To confront a vehement old gentleman, sitting as president in an assembly of satellites, requires command of countenance, and Evan was not browbeaten:  he held him, and the whole room, from where he stood, under a serene and serious eye, for his feelings were too deeply stirred on behalf of the girl to let him think of himself.  That question of hers, ‘What are you going to do with me?’ implying such helplessness and trust, was still sharp on his nerves.

‘Gentlemen,’ he said, ’I humbly beg your pardon for disturbing you as I do.’

But with a sudden idea that a general address on behalf of a particular demand must necessarily fail, he let his eyes rest on one there, whose face was neither stupid nor repellent, and who, though he did not look up, had an attentive, thoughtful cast about the mouth.

‘May I entreat a word apart with you, sir?’

Evan was not mistaken in the index he had perused.  The gentleman seemed to feel that he was selected from the company, and slightly raising his head, carelessly replied:  ‘My bed is entirely at your disposal,’ resuming his contemplative pose.