A middle-aged woman, with a red handkerchief tied around her head, and a broom in her hand, opened the door and looked inquiringly at our hero.

“What’s wanted?” she said.

“I saw your advertisement for boarders,” said Herbert.

“Yes; I advertised in the paper this morning.”

“Will you let me see your rooms?”

“Who are you looking for?”

“Myself.”

“I don’t know as you’ll be suited.  My price is low, and I can’t give first-class accommodations for three dollars.”

“No; I suppose not.”

“Come up, if you would like to see what I’ve got.”

The interior of the house was shabby like the outside, the oilcloth carpet faded, and the wall paper torn off in places.  The stairs, too, were narrow and uncarpeted.  All this Herbert observed, but he could not afford to be critical.

On the third floor, his guide threw open the door of a dark, little hall bedroom, meagerly furnished.

“I could give you this room by yourself,” she said, “or a larger room with someone else.”

“I would rather be alone.”

“That’s the only single room I have.  Will you take it?”

“I think so,” said Herbert, though he did not anticipate much enjoyment in such a poor place.

“When do you want to come?”

“To-morrow morning.”

“Very well.  I shall expect a deposit, so that I may be sure the room is let.”

“How much?”

“A dollar will do.”

Herbert drew a dollar from his pocket, and handed it to Mrs. Morgan, for such, she informed him, was her name.

Then he went downstairs and out into the air again.

“Well,” he said to himself, “I’m sure of a home, such as it is, for a week.  In that time something must turn up.”

Examining his pocketbook he found that he had two dollars and a half left.  Of that sum, two dollars must be reserved to pay the balance of his week’s board.  Out of the remaining fifty cents he must pay for his meals until the next morning, when he would take possession of his new boarding place.  He wished that he had proposed to come to breakfast, but it was too late now.

With such a small sum in hand, he could not afford to dine on the same magnificent scale as he had breakfasted, but he must be rigidly economical.  He decided that the cheapest food he could buy was a five-cent loaf at some baker’s.  This would probably last him through the day, and might prove sufficient for breakfast also, since he would take a regular dinner, though he doubted, from what he had seen of the establishment in Stanton Street, whether it would be a very inviting repast.  But it was the best he could afford, and that was all he need consider.

Late in the afternoon, it occurred to Herbert to wonder where, in the city, his Uncle Stanton lived.  Not that he had any intention of applying to him for assistance, even if matters came to a crisis, but he felt a natural curiosity as to how his uncle was situated.  He found the directory readily, and, turning to the letter S, ran down the list of names till he came to Stanton, Benjamin.