r as he knew, that he slipped into the
current and drifted with it.

It was very characteristic of him that his next words had, apparently,
no bearing whatever on his state of mind.

"We are now," he said, "at the station. If you will tell me the name
of the town from which you came here, I will see that you get back
there. Believe me, it is the only possible thing to do. You cannot
stay here. Now, where did you come from?"

It took some few minutes to convince Roger that the girl literally did
not know the name of the station at which she had purchased her ticket
to New York. She knew she had travelled all day, and that was all. She
had slipped out from her home at dawn or before, left the mysterious
Hester Prynne asleep, walked five miles (Hester had said it was five
miles to the railroad) to a little town where a girl had sold her the
clothes she had on for one of her banknotes and advised her to go to
New York if she wished to see the world, "which was what I did wish,"
said Margarita.

A young man behind some bars had given her the ticket and some small
money back from another note and a kind old man with white hair and a
tall black hat had sat beside her after a while, and pressed so hard
against her that she had no room for her knees. She had told him of
this inconvenience, but to no avail. He had put his arm about her
shoulders and asked her why she did not change her plans and come to
Boston. Then she had told him that though she wanted friends she did
not care for such old ones, and when he still pressed against her she
had asked the man with the shining buttons who looked at her ticket if
he would not remove the old man, because she did not like to sit so
close to anyone, and she was sure the old man was sitting closer all
the time. Then he of the buttons took her somewhere else and bade her
sit beside a woman, grey-haired also, who would not talk at all, and
left her by and by. After this the buttoned man gave her meat between
bread. Still later a young man with beautiful, large eyes inquired if
he might sit beside her and she agreed gladly. He smelled very good.
He asked where she was going and she said to find friends. He said she
would find many on Broadway and that easily; she had only to show
herself there. He offered to point out the way there and just as all
seemed in the best possible way the buttoned man came again, frowned
on the good-smelling young man and took his seat. He talked a good
deal