“Well, you’ve got your own, though not in a way that does either you or your house much credit,” returned the man.  “The next time you are so fortunate as to get a lady in your hotel, I hope you’ll know better how to treat her.”

Mrs. McGinnis retired without further remark, and the man turned to Mrs. Lane, and said, in a kind, respectful manner,

“I am sorry to find you so unhappily situated, and will do any thing in my power to relieve you from your present embarrassment.  Your landlady here is a perfect virago.  How did you happen to fall into her hands?”

Encouraged by the kindness of the man’s address, as well as from the fact that he had rescued her from a violent woman, Mrs. Lane, after composing herself, said—­

“I came in from New York last night, and, being a stranger, asked the cabman to take me to a good hotel.  He brought me here.  I happened to have but two dollars in my purse, he charged one for carriage hire.”

“The extortioner!”

“Finding into what a wretched place he had brought me, I wished to leave this morning, but have been prevented because I could not pay a dollar and a half when I had only a dollar.  I told her to let me go, and I would send her the balance claimed; but she only met the proposition by insult.”

“The wretch!” exclaimed the man, indignantly.  “I happened to be passing, and, hearing her loud voice, glanced in at the window.  In an instant I comprehended, to some extent, the difficulty; and, knowing her of old, came in to see if something were not wrong.  She is a bad woman, and her house is a snare for the innocent.  It is fortunate for you that I came at the right moment!”

Mrs. Lane shuddered.

“And now, madam,” said the man, “what can I do for you?  Have you friends in the city?”

“I am an entire stranger here,” replied Mrs. Lane.

“Were you going farther?

“Yes,” was answered after some hesitation.

“Where do your friends reside?”

“In New York.”

“Ah!”

“This is your child?” was said, after a pause.

“Yes.”

There was something in the man’s manner, and in the way he looked at her, that now made Mrs. Lane shrink from, as instinctively as she had at first leaned towards him.  Beneath his steady eye her own drooped and rested for some moments on the floor.

“Is your husband in New York?” pursued the man.

This question caused the heart of Mrs. Lane to bound with a sudden throb.  Her husband!  She had deserted him, her natural and lawful protector, and already she was encompassed with difficulties and surrounded by dangers.  What would she not at that moment have given to be safely back in the home she had left?  To the last question she gave a simple affirmative.

“Where do you wish to go when you leave here?” inquired the man, who had perceived a change in her and understood its nature.