At length they reached the city, and Tom and her companion got out of the cars.

“Come right along,” said Tom, taking the lady by the hand as if she were a child.

“Carriage, ma’am?” asked several hackmen.

“Perhaps I’d better take a carriage,” said the lady, whose name, by the way, was Mrs. Parmenter.

“Just as you say,” said Tom.

“I’ve got a nice carriage, ma’am. This way, please,” said a burly driver.

“Look here, mister, what are you going to charge?” demanded Tom.

“Where do you want to go?”

“To Mrs. Thurston’s, West Twenty-Fifth street.”

“Whereabouts in the street? What number?”