s. That's the most natural supposition that I can get at. Now
display thy logic, Corporal: thy supposed scoundrel must be rich, for
poor men can seldom afford such expensive luxuries as mistresses; being
rich implies that he is _respectable_--so the world says and
thinks--bah! Being respectable, he would not compromise his character by
engaging personally in such a low business as entrapping a girl; no--he
would employ an _agent_; and such an agent must necessarily be a very
low person, whether male or female--if a male, he is a ruffian--if a
female, she is a strumpet--and where do ruffians and strumpets, of the
_lower orders_ (for even in crime there is an aristocracy)[A] where do
they usually reside? why, in a congenial atmosphere--in the lowest
section of the city; and what is the lowest section of this city? why,
_Ann street_, to be sure. Truly, Corporal Grimsby, thou art an admirable
logician! So now I am on my way to Ann street, to explore its dens, in
the hope (a vain one, I fear) of finding the supposed agent who was
employed by the supposed rich scoundrel to abduct, kidnap, or entrap my
little Fanny. Should I be so fortunate as to find that agent, money will
readily induce him or her to divulge the place where the girl is hid;
for the principle of "honor among thieves" has, I believe, but an
imaginary existence."

[A] The honest Corporal was right; the well-dressed, gentlemanly,
speculating, wholesale swindler would scorn to associate with the needy
wretch who protracts a miserable existence by small pilferings--and the
fashionable courtezan who promenades Washington street and "sees
company" at a splendidly furnished brothel, can perceive not the
slightest resemblance between her position in society and that of the
wretched troll who practises indiscriminate prostitution in some low
"crib" in Ann street. And yet philosophy and common sense both level all
moral distinction between the two conditions.--A noble murderer once
protested against being hung on the same gallows with a
chimney-sweep--there was aristocracy with a vengeance! We opine that the
lofty and arrogant pretensions of some of our "nabobs," who are often of
obscure and sometimes of ignominious birth, are scarcely less ridiculous
than the aristocratic notions of a gentlemanly rascal who robs _a la
mode_ and picks a pocket with gentility and grace!

Leaving the Corporal to explore the intricate labyrinths of Ann street,
(in the hope of obtaining so