dow of ex-President Abraham Lincoln in a three-cornered room
in the attic of this miserable hotel."

When I reached Mrs. Lincoln's rooms, tears of humiliation and vexation
were in my eyes.

"What is the matter, Lizzie?" she asked.

"I cannot get any dinner."

"Cannot get any dinner! What do you mean?"

I then told her of all that had transpired below.

"The insolent, overbearing people!" she fiercely exclaimed. "Never mind,
Lizzie, you shall have your dinner. Put on your bonnet and shawl."

"What for?"

"What for! Why, we will go out of the hotel, and get you something to
eat where they know how to behave decently;" and Mrs. Lincoln already
was tying the strings of her bonnet before the glass.

Her impulsiveness alarmed me.

"Surely, Mrs. Lincoln, you do not intend to go out on the street
to-night?"

"Yes I do. Do you suppose I am going to have you starve, when we can
find something to eat on every corner?"

"But you forget. You are here as Mrs. Clarke and not as Mrs. Lincoln.
You came alone, and the people already suspect that everything is not
right. If you go outside of the hotel to-night, they will accept the
fact as evidence against you."

"Nonsense; what do you suppose I care for what these low-bred people
think? Put on your things."

"No, Mrs. Lincoln, I shall not go outside of the hotel to-night, for I
realize your situation, if you do not. Mrs. Lincoln has no reason to
care what these people may say about her as Mrs. Lincoln, but she should
be prudent, and give them no opportunity to say anything about her as
Mrs. Clarke."

It was with difficulty I could convince her that she should act with
caution. She was so frank and impulsive that she never once thought that
her actions might be misconstrued. It did not occur to her that she
might order dinner to be served in my room, so I went to bed without a
mouthful to eat.

The next morning Mrs. Lincoln knocked at my door before six o'clock:

"Come, Elizabeth, get up, I know you must be hungry. Dress yourself
quickly and we will go out and get some breakfast. I was unable to sleep
last night for thinking of you being forced to go to bed without
anything to eat."

I dressed myself as quickly as I could, and together we went out and
took breakfast, at a restaurant on Broadway, some place between 609 and
the St. Denis Hotel. I do not give the number, as I prefer leaving it to
conjecture. Of one thing I am certain--the proprietor of the restaurant