"I should like to ask the woman—" I commenced, but here my eyes fell upon her form. It was tall and it was full, but it was not by any means handsome. A fearful possibility crossed my mind. Approaching the woman closely, I modified my question.
"Are you the person who took this young lady from her boarding place?"
I asked.
"Yes, sir," was the reply, uttered in smooth but by no means cultivated tones.
"And by what arts did you prevail upon this young and confiding creature to leave her comfortable home and go out into the streets with you?"
She did not speak, she smiled. O heaven! what depths of depravity opened before me in that smile!
"Answer!" the officer cried.
"Well, sir, I told her," she now replied, "that I was such and such a relative, grandmother, I think I said; and being a dutiful child—"
But I was now up close to her side, and, leaning to her very ear I interrupted her.
"Tell me on which side of the hall was the parlor into which you went."
"The right," she answered, without the least show of hesitation.