an aquiline nose,
who turned his bull's-eye full on them as they passed, and then went on
his way, shaking his head sagaciously.

As the ill-assorted pair advanced, the streets they traversed seemed to
grow narrower and dirtier. The inhabitants partook of the character of
their surroundings, and it struck our Scotsman that, as ordinary shops
became fewer and meaner, grog-shops became more numerous and
self-assertive. From out of these dens of debauchery there issued loud
cries and curses and ribald songs, and occasionally one or two of the
wretched revellers, male or female, were thrust out, that they might
finish off a quarrel with a fight in the street, or because they
insisted on having more drink without having the means to pay for it.

At one particular point a woman "in unwomanly rags" was seen leaning up
against a lamp-post with an idiotical expression on her bloated face,
making an impassioned speech to some imaginary person at her elbow. The
speech came to an abrupt end when, losing her balance, she fell to the
ground, and lay there in drunken contentment.

At the same moment the attention of our explorer was drawn to a riot
close at hand, occasioned by two men engaged in a fierce encounter.
They were loudly cheered and backed by their friends, until all were
scattered by two powerful constables, who swooped suddenly on the scene
and captured one of the combatants, while the other almost overturned
David as he ran against him in passing, and escaped.

"Come down here," said the thief, turning sharp to the left and passing
under a low archway.

It led to a narrow alley, which seemed to terminate in total darkness.
Even Laidlaw's stout heart beat somewhat faster as he entered it, but he
did not hesitate.

At the end of the passage a dim light appeared. It was thrown by a very
dirty lamp, and disclosed a small court of unutterable meanness and
inconceivable smells. One or two men had brushed past them, and David
observed that his guide accosted these in a language, or slang, which he
did not understand.

"I've got a friend in here," said his guide, opening a door and
disclosing an extremely dirty room of about ten feet square. A woman
with her back towards the door was busy at a wash-tub. Ragged clothes
were drying on a clothes-line. A shattered bed, on which lay a bundle
of straw and a torn blanket, stood in one corner; a rickety table in
another. Water and soapsuds blotched the broken floor, amo