"What is the depot?" questioned the other, eying Alice steadily.
The girl flushed. "Why do you ask me that? Why do you look at me so?"
The lady stepped closer, and speaking low: "Because I know who you are, I know why you are thinking about that prison."
Alice stared at her with widening eyes and heaving bosom. The woman's tone was kind, her look almost appealing, yet the girl drew back, guided by an instinct of danger.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"Don't you know who I am?" answered the other, and now her emotion broke through the mask of calm. "I am the lady who—who called for M. Kittredge last night."
"Oh!" burst out Alice scornfully. "A lady! You call yourself a lady!"
"Call me anything you like but——"
"I don't wish to speak to you; it's an outrage your coming here; I—I'm going down." And she started for the stairs.
"Wait!" cried the visitor. "You shall hear me. I have come to help the man you love."