"What for! Why, we will go out of the hotel, and get you something to eat where they know how to behave decently;" and Mrs. Lincoln already was tying the strings of her bonnet before the glass.
Her impulsiveness alarmed me.
"Surely, Mrs. Lincoln, you do not intend to go out on the street to-night?"
"Yes I do. Do you suppose I am going to have you starve, when we can find something to eat on every corner?"
"But you forget. You are here as Mrs. Clarke and not as Mrs. Lincoln. You came alone, and the people already suspect that everything is not right. If you go outside of the hotel to-night, they will accept the fact as evidence against you."
"Nonsense; what do you suppose I care for what these low-bred people think? Put on your things."
"No, Mrs. Lincoln, I shall not go outside of the hotel to-night, for I realize your situation, if you do not. Mrs. Lincoln has no reason to care what these people may say about her as Mrs. Lincoln, but she should be prudent, and give them no opportunity to say anything about her as Mrs. Clarke."
It was with difficulty I could convince her that she should act with caution. She was so frank and impulsive that she never once thought that her actions might be misconstrued. It did not occur to her that she might order dinner to be served in my room, so I went to bed without a mouthful to eat.
The next morning Mrs. Lincoln knocked at my door before six o'clock: