No. 13 Washington Square

ascended with chaste dignity to Mrs. De Peyster's noble front door. Swiftly they surveyed the scene. Not a policeman was in sigh

to University Place. Thus far no one had challenged them. Here they turned and went rapidly northward: past the Lafayette, where Mrs. De Peyster's impulse to take a taxicab was instantly

yes upon them. And, indeed, his eyes were-interestedly; for to that Hibernian, with his native whimsicality, t

ost select hotel in New York. In fact, six months before, when Mrs. De Peyster desired to introduce and honor the Duke de Crécy in a larger way than her residence permitted, it was at the Dauphin that she had elected to give the ball that had brought her so much deferential praise-which occasion was the first and only time she had departed from her strict old-fami

, in seclusion, until she had t

en them forth. Other matters began to flash spasmodically across the screen of her mind. One of these was William. And there the film stopped. The cold, withering look William had given Matilda

p her dignity, "I desire to ins

m," whispe

to any one, particularly William, that it was I a

not, m

swe

, ma'am.

e sworn." And relieved of t

ackey, who seemed bulk and brass buttons and braid

atilda," ordered

. Matilda did so, out of a square black leather bag that was never out of Matilda's fingers

Orient, and came into a vast high chamber, large as a theater-marble walls and ceiling, tapestries, moulded plaster and gilt in moderation, silken ropes instead of han

ld-the latter, possibly, only bronze, or gilded iron-within which stood a gentleman in

briefly across the counter, "with si

"I have a most desirable suite on the fifteenth

will

queried the gentlema

ison," invented

py the suite?" pursued the courtly v

then with wrathful hauteur: "The apartment is

lda, just behind her. There was no doubting what Matilda was; and since the two

, the suite is not availa

cried Mrs. De P

r to say

I ins

ith what important families these two were connected; and it would not do to give offense. "We receive servants only when they accompany their employers, and then assign them

ers!" gasped Mrs. De

ith a bow ended the scene and moved to the rear of the o

clerk had turned his back on her! And this mere clerk had dared refuse her

had ever happene

look, and the Dauphin, and all therein and all appertaining there

let's go," she whispered

two figures, duplicates of somberness, one magnificently upright, the other shrinking, were re-passing over the muting rugs, through the corridor

as soon as they were in the street, before Mrs. De Peyster's b

ifty dolla

it-but-but please, ma'am, did y

a voice chilled with dismay-"I never thought of my purs

ab, ma'am, I have only a li

til

Matilda, "it was just as

yster did

e blame was hers, "the hotels won't trust you unle

tragedy in Mrs. De Peyster's v

spect was the need of immediate refuge. Other troubles and developments could be handled as they arose, should any such arise. But a place to hide, to sleep, had to be secured withi

Matilda, "that a rooming-house or

exclaimed Mrs. De

ard of a boarding-house in the library-I've no idea how it came there. I saved it because m

ell of a house on the West Side. Visible leadership Mrs. De Peyster had resigned to Matilda, for they were entering a

with vari-colored panes and portholes. From this hall a stairway ascended, and from it was a view into a small rear parlor, where sat a clergyman. The lady who had admit

d in a drawling tone, yet studying them sharply with heavy-penciled eyes. "I run a select house, so I've got to be careful

es

uded their inventory. "P

-ye

kept her still. And perhaps it was just as well. Mrs. Gilbert, considering the two, did have a moment's thought about refusing them; she, too, liked to maintain the social tone of he

do you wan

et. Per-perhaps

s. Gilbert. But it was not bo

you want t

ow

eyebrows lifted in surp

Matilda lied desperately. "We're-we

, you expect to

least a

oom or

would com

here she turned on the light. "A very comfortable room," she went on in the voice of a tired and very superior auctioneer. "Just vacated by a Wall Street broker and his wife; very

e it," sai

the deposit-how

y fifteen

and that yet were remarkably prompt, took the bills Matilda h

ght to ten. Good-night." And with that her la

ble-looking couch; a yellow washstand with dandruffy varnish and cracked mirror; wall-paper with vast, uncataloguable flowers gangrenous in suggestion; on the ceiling a circle of over-plump dancing Cu

aculated. "I didn't know there w

fit for you," grieved Matilda.

ing a shaking finger at the a

your bed

be

wn, ma'am.

ismayed, looked for the first time in her life upon the miracle of the unfolding of a folding-bed. Her mistress's

r beds, the lights out. Mrs. De Peyster lay dazed upon this strange bed that operated

then from the couch of that elderly virgin sounded the incontrovertible

use; Olivetta, on board the Plutonia, was this minute reposing at ease amid the luxuries of her cabin de luxe; and she, herself, Mrs. De Peyster, was lying on a folding-bed, a most kn

wenty-four

e corpulent Cupids were dancing their aeria