the Elevated loomed just ahead; I heard the
roar of an approaching train, and stopped to purchase some fruit at
the corner stand. My pursuer was some distance behind, closely
inspecting the bric-a-brac in a peddler's cart. The train rumbled
into the station, and, starting as though I had just perceived it, I
bounded up the stair, slammed my ticket into the chopper, and dived
across the platform. The guard at the rear of the train held the gate
open for me an instant, and then clanged it shut. We were off with a
jerk; as I looked back, I saw Martigny rush out upon the platform. He
stood staring after me for an instant; then, with a sudden grasping at
his breast, staggered and seemed to fall. A crowd closed about him,
the train whisked around a corner, and I could see no more.

But, at any rate, I was well free of him, and I got off at Bleecker
Street, walked on to the Square, and began my search. My plan was very
simple. Beginning on the east side of West Broadway, it was my
intention to stop at every house and inquire whether lodgers were
kept. My experience at the first place was a pretty fair sample of all
the rest.

A frowsy-headed woman answered my knock.

"You have rooms to let?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, monsieur," she answered, with an expansive grin. "Step zis
vay."

We mounted a dirty stair, and she threw open a door with a flourish
meant to be impressive.

"Zese are ze rooms, monsieur; zey are ver' fine."

I looked around them with simulated interest, smothering my disgust as
well as I could.

"How long have they been vacant?" I asked.

"Since only two days, monsieur; as you see, zey are ver' fine rooms."

That settled it. If they had been vacant only two days, I had no
further interest in them, and with some excuse I made my way out, glad
to escape from that fetid atmosphere of garlic and onions. So I went
from house to house; stumbling over dirty children; climbing grimy
stairs, catching glimpses of crowded sweat-shops; peering into all
sorts of holes called rooms by courtesy; inhaling a hundred stenches
in as many minutes; gaining an insight that sickened me into the
squalid life of the quarter. Sometimes I began to hope that at last I
was on the right track; but further inquiry would prove my mistake. So
the morning passed, and the afternoon. I had covered two blocks to no
purpose, and at last I turned eastward to Broadway, and took a car
downtown to the office. My assistants had reported again--th