choed Mrs Milton, (for it was she), in great distress.
"Oh! where--where shall I drive to?"

"Really, ma'am, I couldn't say," answered the porter, with a modest
look.

"I've--I--my son! My dear boy! Where shall I go to inquire? Oh! what
_shall_ I do?"

These would have been perplexing utterances even to an unsympathetic
man.

Turning away from the window, and looking up at the driver, the porter
said solemnly--

"To the best 'otel you know of, cabby, that's not too dear. An' if
you've bin gifted with compassion, cabby, don't overcharge your fare."

Accepting the direction, and exercising his discretion as well as his
compassion, that intelligent cabby drove, strange to say, straight to an
hotel styled the "Officers' House," which is an offshoot of Miss
Robinson's Institute, and stands close beside it!

"A hofficer's lady," said the inventive cabby to the boy who opened the
door. "Wants to putt up in this 'ere 'ouse."

When poor Mrs Milton had calmed her feelings sufficiently to admit of
her talking with some degree of coherence, she rang the bell and sent
for the landlord.

Mr Tufnell, who was landlord of the Officers' House, as well as manager
of the Institute, soon presented himself, and to him the poor lady
confided her sorrows.

"You see, landlord," she said, whimpering, "I don't know a soul in
Portsmouth; and--and--in fact I don't even know how I came to your
hotel, for I never heard of it before; but I think I must have been sent
here, for I see from your looks that you will help me."

"You may depend on my helping you to the best of my power, madam. May I
ask what you would have me do?"

With much earnestness, and not a few tears, poor Mrs Milton related as
much of her son's story as she thought necessary.

"Well, you could not have come to a better place," said Tufnell, "for
Miss Robinson and all her helpers sympathise deeply with soldiers. If
any one can find out about your son, _they_ can. How were you led to
suspect that he had come to Portsmouth?"

"A friend suggested that he might possibly have done so. Indeed, it
seems natural, considering my dear boy's desire to enter the army, and
the number of soldiers, who are always passing through this town."

"Well, I will go at once and make inquiry. The name Milton is not
familiar to me, but so many come and go that we sometimes forget names."

When poor Mrs Milton was afterwards introduced to Miss Robinson, she
found her both sympat