"Can I be of any service to you?" asked the train boy. "It is late for a young lady to arrive in New York."
"I supposed we should reach the city at nine. That is what a neighbor told me. I hardly know where to go," she added timidly. "Can you recommend a cheap hotel or boarding-house?"
"There would be a difficulty about obtaining admission to either this evening."
"Then what shall I do?" asked the girl, looking distressed.
"I think you had better come home with me for to-night. Our home is a very humble one but mother will take good care of you. To-morrow you can make other arrangements if you desire."
"Oh, how kind you are! I should like nothing better, if you really think your mother would not be annoyed."
Fred smiled.
"She is too kind-hearted for that," he said. "Just wait till you see her, and you won't feel any doubt."
"How fortunate I am to fall in with such a friend! I now see how unwise it was for me to take such a late train."
They walked to the Cortlandt Street station of the Sixth Avenue Elevated Road, and ascended the steps. In spite of her anxieties the young lady felt interested in the novel means of locomotion, and asked a variety of questions of the train boy. At Thirty-Third Street they descended, and walking a short distance up Broadway turned down a side street, and were soon at the door of Fred's modest home.