rdy boy with a dirty night-cap on his head.

"Any of 'em wanted to-night, sir?" asked the sturdy boy, the moment he
saw the policeman.

"What does he mean?" said Amelius.

"There's a sprinkling of thieves among them, sir," the policeman
explained. "Stand out of the way, Jacob, and let the gentleman look in."

He produced his lantern, and directed the light downwards, as he spoke.
Amelius looked in. The policeman's figure of speech, likening the
lodgers to "herrings in a barrel," accurately described the scene.
On the floor of a kitchen, men, women, and children lay all huddled
together in closely packed rows. Ghastly faces rose terrified out of
the seething obscurity, when the light of the lantern fell on them. The
stench drove Amelius back, sickened and shuddering.

"How's the sore place on your head, Jacob?" the policeman inquired.
"This is a civil boy," he explained to Amelius, "and I like to encourage
him."

"I'm getting better, sir, as fast as I can," said the boy.

"Good night, Jacob."

"Good night, sir." The trap-door fell--and the lodging-house disappeared
like the vision of a frightful dream.

There was a moment of silence among the little group on the pavement. It
was not easy to solve the question of what to do next. "There seems to
be some difficulty," the policeman remarked, "about housing this girl
for the night."

"Why shouldn't we take her along with us?" one of the women suggested.
"She won't mind sleeping three in a bed, I know."

"What are you thinking of?" the other woman remonstrated. "When he finds
she don't come home, our place will be the first place he looks for her
in."

Amelius settled the difficulty, in his own headlong way, "I'll take care
of her for the night," he said. "Sally, will you trust yourself with
me?"

She put her hand in his, with the air of a child who was ready to go
home. Her wan face brightened for the first time. "Thank you, sir," she
said; "I'll go anywhere along with you."

The policeman smiled. The two women looked thunderstruck. Before they
had recovered themselves, Amelius forced them to take some money from
him, and cordially shook hands with them. "You're good creatures," he
said, in his eager, hearty way; "I'm sincerely sorry for you. Now, Mr.
Policeman, show me where to find a cab--and take that for the trouble I
am giving you. You're a humane man, and a credit to the force."

In five minutes more, Amelius was on the way to his lodgings, with
Sim