uincy, that I won't smoke a cigarette nor drink a glass of
wine while Alice is here,--until after she goes to bed; and then I'll
eat a clove and air the room out thoroughly before I let her in in the
morning."

Quincy was up early next morning, and at ten minutes of nine reached the
lodging house in Myrtle Street. He had taken a carriage, for he knew
Miss Very would have her luggage, probably a trunk. His call at the door
was answered by a sharp-eyed, hatchet-faced woman, whose face was red
with excitement. To Quincy's inquiry if Miss Very was in, the woman
replied, "that she was in and was likely to stay in."

"I trust she is not sick," said Quincy.

"No! she ain't sick," the woman replied, "what you mean by sick; but
there's worse things than bein' sick, especially when a poor widder has
a big house rent to pay and coal seven dollars and a half a ton."

A small trunk, neatly strapped, stood in the hallway. Glancing into the
stuffy little parlor, he saw a woman, apparently young, with her veil
down, seated on a sofa, with a large valise on the floor and a hand bag
at her side.

Quincy divined the situation at once. Stepping into the hallway, he
closed the parlor door, and, turning to the woman, said, "How much?"

"Three dollars," replied the woman, "and it's cheap enough for--"

"A miserable little dark stuffy side room, without any heat, up three
flights, back," broke in Quincy, as he passed her the money.

The woman was breathless with astonishment and anger. Taking advantage
of this, Quincy opened the parlor door, first beckoning to the coachman
to come in and get the trunk.

"Miss Very, I presume?" said Quincy, as he advanced towards the young
lady on the sofa.

She arose as he approached, and answered, "Yes, sir."

"Come with me, please," said he, grasping the valise. She hesitated; he
understood why. "It's all right," he said, in a low tone. "I've settled
with the landlady, and you can settle with me any time."

"Thank you, so much," spoke a sweet voice from underneath the veil, and
the owner of it followed close behind him, and he handed her into the
carriage. As Quincy pulled the carriage door to, that of the lodging
house closed with a report like that of a pistol, and Mrs. Colby went
down stairs and told the servant, who was scrubbing the kitchen floor,
what had occurred, and added that she "had always had her suspicions of
that Miss Very."

* * * * *

While Qui