f different patterned carpets which hid the
floor, and made it appear as if covered with some kind of
variegated woollen chowder, the second-hand, conciliating
please-buy-me look of the three chairs, and the dirt and greasy
grime which gave a character to the place, told at once the true
state of facts.

On one side of the room was a little door, evidently
communicating with a closet or small bedroom; on this door was a
slip of tin, on which was painted

+------------------------------------+
| |
| Office.--Madam Harris, Astrologist. |
| |
+------------------------------------+

and into this "office" the weak-eyed girl disappeared, with a
shame-faced look, as if she had tried to steal her visitor's
pocket-book, and hadn't succeeded. Presently there came from the
closet a sound of half-suppressed merriment, as if a constant
succession of laughs were born there, full grown and boisterous,
but were instantly garroted by some unknown power, until each one
expired in a kind of choky giggle. There was also a noise of the
making of a bed, the hustling of chairs, the putting away of
toilet articles out of sight, and over all was heard the chiding
voice of Madame Harris, who was evidently dressing herself,
superintending these other various operations, and scolding the
weak-eyed maiden all at once.

At last this latter individual got so far the better of her
jocularity that she was able to deport herself with outward
seriousness when she emerged from the mysterious closet, and said
to the Individual, "Walk in." At this time she was under so great
a head of laugh that she would inevitably have exploded, had she
not, the instant her visitor turned his back, let go her
safety-valve, and relieved herself by a guffaw which would have
been an honor and a credit to any one of the horses on the first
floor.

The room in which Madame Harris was waiting to receive her
customer was so dark that he stumbled over a chair, and fell
across a bed before he could see where he was. Then he recovered
himself, and took an observation.

The room was a very small one--so diminutive, indeed, that the
bed, which occupied one side of it, reduced the available space
more than two-thirds. It was partitioned off from the rest of
the room by a dirty patch-work bed-quilt, with more holes than
patches. The walls were scrawled over with pencil-marks,
evident