“Come, girls,” he said at last, “you need some oxygen.  The air is close and stifling in this den of a house, and outside the evening is clear and bracing.  Let’s have a stroll.”

“We can’t go far,” said Mildred, “for mamma is sleeping, and I would not have her wake and be frightened for anything.”

“Well, we’ll only go around a block or two.  You’ll feel the stronger for it, and be in a better condition to move to-morrow,” for Mildred had told him of her purpose, and he had promised to help them get settled on the following evening.  When they reached the end of the dark passage-way they feared that trouble was brewing, for a score of dark, coarse faces lowered at them, and the fellow that Belle had punished glared at her above his bandaged face.  Paying no heed to them, however, they took a brief, quick walk, and returned to find the entrance blocked by an increasing number of dangerous-looking young ruffians.

“Stand aside,” said Roger sternly.

A big fellow knocked off his hat in response, and received instantly a blow in the eye which would have felled him had he not been sustained by the crowd, who now closed on the young man.

“Run up the street and call for police,” he said to the girls, but they were snatched back and held by some of the gang, and hands placed over their mouths, yet not before they had uttered two piercing cries.

Roger, after a brief, desperate struggle, got his back to the wall and struck blows that were like those of a sledge-hammer.  He was dealing, however, with some fairly trained pugilists, and was suffering severely, when a policeman rushed in, clubbing right and left.  The gang dispersed instantly, but two were captured.  The girls, half fainting from excitement and terror, were conducted to their room by Roger, and then they applied palliatives to the wounds of their knight, with a solicitude and affection which made the bruises welcome indeed to the young fellow.  They were in terror at the idea of his departure, for the building was like a seething caldron.  He reassured them by promising to remain until all was quiet, and the police also informed them that the house would be under surveillance until morning.

On the following day, with Mrs. Wheaton’s aid, they found rooms elsewhere, and Roger, after appearing as witness against the rowdies that had been captured, and informing his employers of what had occurred, gave the remaining hours to the efficient aid of his friends.

CHAPTER XLI

GLINTS OF SUNSHINE

Their new rooms at first promised remarkably well.  They were on the ground-floor of a large tenement that fronted on a rather narrow street, and their neighbors seemed quiet, well-disposed people.  Mr. Wentworth soon called and congratulated them on the change.  Mrs. Wheaton frequently came to give Mrs. Jocelyn a “’elping ’and,” as she phrased it, but her eliminations did not extend