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handsfor she wore no gloveswanted washing.
What a young girl like yourself must not do, said I, is to
enter into conversation with men in public places.
Then I shall have to die, she said, forlornly, edging away from
my side.
She had the oddest little foreign accent. I looked at her again
more critically, and discovered what it was that made her look so
disreputable. She was wearing an old black dress many sizes too
big for her. Great pleats of it were secured by pins in
unexpected places, so that quaint chaos was made of the scheme of
decorationblack velvet and bugleson the bodice.
Instinctively I felt that a middleaged, fat, secondhand
clothesdealing Jewess had built it many years ago for synagogue
wear. On the girlish figure it looked preposterous.
Preposterous too was her headgear, an amorphous bonnet trimmed
in black, with a cheap black feather drooping brokenly.
Her eyes gave me a reproachful glance and turned away again.
Then she shrugged her shoulders and sniffed. My mother had a
housemaid once who always sniffed like that before beginning to
cry. My position was untenable. I could not remain stonily on
the seat while this grotesquely attired damsel wept; and for the
life of me I could not get up and leave her. She looked at me
again. Those swimming, pleading eyes were scarcely human. I
capitulated.
Don't cry. Tell me what I can do for you, I said.
She moved a few inches nearer.
I want to find Harry, she said; I have lost him.
Who's Harry? I naturally inquired.
He is to be my husband.
What's his other name?
I have forgotten, she said, spreading out her hands.
Don't you know any one else in London? I asked.
She shook her head mournfully. And I am getting so hungry.
I suggested that there were restaurants in London.
But I have no money, she objected. No money and nothing at
all but this. She designated her dress. Isn't it ugly?
It is decidedly not becoming, I admitted.
Well, what must I do? You tell me and I do it. If you don't
tell me, I must die.
She leaned back placidly, having thus put upon my shoulders the
responsibility of her existence. I did not know which to admire
more, her cool assurance or the stoic fortitude with which she
faced dissolution.
I can give you some money to keep you going for a day or two,
said I, but as for finding Harry, without knowing his name
After all I don't want so very much to find him, said this
amazing young person. He made me stay in my cabin all the time

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