t looked like it. He seemed to be in the suburbs, too, in a
locality the surroundings of which impressed him unpleasantly. The
buildings were small and dilapidated, there was a good deal of rubbish
on the sidewalks and in the streets, a few ragged children were
playing in the gutter near by, shivering with cold as they ran about
in bare, dirty feet, and a drunken man, leaning against a post on the
opposite corner, was talking affectionately to some imaginary person
in the vicinity. Ralph thought that this, certainly, was not where he
ought to be. He walked more slowly, trying to find some one who would
give him reliable directions.

At the corner of the block there was a house that looked somewhat
better than its neighbors. It had a show-window projecting a
few inches into the street, and in the window was a display of
wine-bottles, and a very dirty placard announcing that oysters would
be served to customers, in every style. On the ground-glass comprising
the upper part of the door, the words "Sample Room" were elaborately
lettered. Ralph heard some one talking inside, and, after a moment of
hesitation, concluded to go in there and make his inquiry, as the need
of finding his way had come to be very pressing. Coming in, as he did,
from the street, the room was quite dark to his eyes, and he could not
well make out, at first, who were in it. But he soon discovered a man
standing, in his shirt-sleeves, behind a bar, and he went up to him
and said:--

"Will you please tell me, sir, which is the nearest way to the
railroad station?"

"Which station d'ye want to go to, bub?" inquired the man, leaning
over the bar to look at him.

"The one you take the train for Scranton from."

"Which train for Scranton d'ye want to take?"

"The one't leaves at noon."

"Why that train goes in just five minutes. You couldn't catch that
train now, my little cupid, if you should spread your wings and fly to
the station."

It was not the bar-tender who spoke this time; it was a young man who
had left his chair by the stove and had come up closer to get a better
look at the boy. He was just slipping a silver watch back into his
vest pocket. It was a black silk vest, dotted with little red figures.
Below the vest, encasing the wearer's legs very tightly, were a pair
of much soiled corduroy pantaloons that had once been of a lavender
shade. Over the vest was a short, dark, double-breasted sack coat, now
unbuttoned. A large gaudy, flowin