"Would a dollar a day be too much?"

"No," said the housekeeper; "there is only about three days' work
to do every week. If you would come every afternoon you could do
it."

"Very well," said the applicant. "Shall we start to-day?"

"Yes; if you'll come with me now I'll show you where the cleaning
things are."

The hotel, into which they were thus summarily introduced, was a
rather remarkable specimen for the time and place. Columbus, being the
State capital, and having a population of fifty thousand and a fair
passenger traffic, was a good field for the hotel business, and the
opportunity had been improved; so at least the Columbus people proudly
thought. The structure, five stories in height, and of imposing
proportions, stood at one corner of the central public square, where
were the Capitol building and principal stores. The lobby was large
and had been recently redecorated. Both floor and wainscot were of
white marble, kept shiny by frequent polishing. There was an imposing
staircase with hand-rails of walnut and toe-strips of brass. An
inviting corner was devoted to a news and cigar-stand. Where the
staircase curved upward the clerk's desk and offices had been located,
all done in hardwood and ornamented by novel gas-fixtures. One could
see through a door at one end of the lobby to the barbershop, with its
chairs and array of shaving-mugs. Outside were usually two or three
buses, arriving or departing, in accordance with the movement of the
trains.

To this caravanserai came the best of the political and social
patronage of the State. Several Governors had made it their permanent
abiding place during their terms of office. The two United States
Senators, whenever business called them to Columbus, invariably
maintained parlor chambers at the hotel. One of them, Senator Brander,
was looked upon by the proprietor as more or less of a permanent
guest, because he was not only a resident of the city, but an
otherwise homeless bachelor. Other and more transient guests included
Congressmen, State legislators and lobbyists, merchants, professional
men, and, after them, the whole raft of indescribables who, coming and
going, make up the glow and stir of this kaleidoscopic world.

Mother and daughter, suddenly flung into this realm of superior
brightness, felt immeasurably overawed. They went about too timid to
touch anything for fear of giving offense. The great red-carpeted
hallway, which they were set to sweep,