to myself; and I f-f-foller them till they goes
into a house in Wa-Washington street--and here I am.'

'You have done well, Tom,' said the Dead Man, approvingly--'you must now
conduct us to the house in Washington street which the ladies entered:
it is nine o'clock, and time that we should be up and doing.'

Stuttering Tom led the way, and the three issued from the house. Ann
street was 'all alive' at that hour; from every cellar came forth the
sound of a fiddle, and the side-walks were crowded with a motley throng
of Hibernians, Ethiopians, and Cyprians of an inferior order. Talk of
Boston being a moral city! There is villainy, misery and vice enough in
Ann street alone, to deserve for the whole place the fate of Sodom and
Gomorrah.

The Dead Man and the Doctor, under the guidance of Stuttering Tom, soon
reached the house in Washington street where Josephine and her mother
had taken up their residence. The guide was then rewarded and dismissed;
the two adventurers ascended the steps, and one of them rang the
door-bell.

A servant girl answered the summons, and in reply to their inquiries
informed them that the ladies were both in the parlor.

'Show us up there,' said the Dead Man, in a commanding tone, as he
concealed his hideous face behind his upturned coat-collar. The girl
obeyed, and having conducted them up a flight of stairs, ushered them
into an apartment where Josephine and her mother were seated, engaged
there in playing _ecarte_.

Their confusion and terror may easily be imagined, when turning to see
who their visitors were, their eyes rested upon the awful lineaments of
the DEAD MAN!

'Your humble servant, ladies,' said the villain, with a triumphant
laugh--'you see you cannot hide from me, or escape me. Fair Josephine,
you look truly charming--will you oblige me with a private interview?'

'It will be useless,' said Josephine coldly, as she recovered some
portion of her composure--'we have no more money to give you.'

'You can give me something more acceptable than _money_,' rejoined the
other, with a horrible leer--'at our last interview I told you what I
should require at our next. Doctor, I leave you with the voluptuous
mother, while I make court to the beautiful daughter.'

He grasped Josephine violently by the arm, and dragged her from the
room, forced her into an adjoining apartment, and thrust her brutally
upon a sofa, saying with a fearful oath--

'Dare to resist me, and I'll spoil you