hastened my steps, and in this fashion we
passed up one street and down another, until we reached what I cannot
help thinking must have been the lowest quarter of Sydney. On either
hand were Chinese names and sign-boards, marine stores, slop shops, with
pawnbrokers and public-houses galore; while in this locality few of the
inhabitants seemed to have any idea of what bed meant. Groups of
sullen-looking men and women were clustered at the corners, and on one
occasion the person I was pursuing was stopped by them. But she
evidently knew how to take care of herself, for she was soon marching on
her way again.

At the end of one long and filthily dirty street she paused and looked
about her. I had crossed the road just before this, and was scarcely ten
yards behind her. Pulling my hat well down to shade my face, and
sticking my hands in my pockets, I staggered and reeled along, doing my
best to imitate the gait of a drunken man. Seeing only me about, she
went up to the window of a corner house and tapped with her knuckles
thrice upon the glass. Before one could have counted twenty the door of
the dwelling was opened, and she passed in. Now I was in a nasty
fix--either I must be content to abandon my errand, or I must get inside
the building, and trust to luck to procure the information I wanted.
Fortunately, in my present disguise the girl would be hardly likely to
recognize her master's guest. So giving them time to get into a room, I
also went up to the door and turned the handle. To my delight it was
unlocked. I opened it, and entered the house.

The passage was in total darkness; but I could make out where the door
of the room I wanted to find was located by a thin streak of light low
down upon the floor. As softly as I possibly could, I crept up to it,
and bent down to look through the keyhole. The view was necessarily
limited, but I could just make out the girl I had followed sitting upon
a bed; while leaning against the wall, a dirty clay pipe in her mouth,
was the vilest old woman I have ever in my life set eyes on. She was
very small, with a pinched-up nut-cracker face, dressed in an old bit of
tawdry finery, more than three sizes too large for her. Her hair fell
upon her shoulders in a tangled mass, and from under it her eyes gleamed
out like those of a wicked little Scotch terrier ready to bite. As I
bent down to listen I heard her say:--

"Well, my pretty dear, and what information have you got for the
gentle