They looked about them for some coloured face, and finally saw one among the porters who were handling the baggage.  To Joe’s inquiry he gave them an address, and also proffered his advice as to the best way to reach the place.  He was exceedingly polite, and he looked hard at Kitty.  They found the house to which they had been directed, and were a good deal surprised at its apparent grandeur.  It was a four-storied brick dwelling on Twenty-seventh Street.  As they looked from the outside, they were afraid that the price of staying in such a place would be too much for their pockets.  Inside, the sight of the hard, gaudily upholstered instalment-plan furniture did not disillusion them, and they continued to fear that they could never stop at this fine place.  But they found Mrs. Jones, the proprietress, both gracious and willing to come to terms with them.

As Mrs. Hamilton—­she began to be Mrs. Hamilton now, to the exclusion of Fannie—­would have described Mrs. Jones, she was a “big yellow woman.”  She had a broad good-natured face and a tendency to run to bust.

“Yes,” she said, “I think I could arrange to take you.  I could let you have two rooms, and you could use my kitchen until you decided whether you wanted to take a flat or not.  I has the whole house myself, and I keeps roomers.  But latah on I could fix things so ’s you could have the whole third floor ef you wanted to.  Most o’ my gent’men ’s railroad gent’men, they is.  I guess it must ‘a’ been Mr. Thomas that sent you up here.”

“He was a little bright man down at de deepo.”

“Yes, that ’s him.  That ’s Mr. Thomas.  He ‘s always lookin’ out to send some one here, because he ‘s been here three years hisself an’ he kin recommend my house.”

It was a relief to the Hamiltons to find Mrs. Jones so gracious and home-like.  So the matter was settled, and they took up their abode with her and sent for their baggage.

With the first pause in the rush that they had experienced since starting away from home, Mrs. Hamilton began to have time for reflection, and their condition seemed to her much better as it was.  Of course, it was hard to be away from home and among strangers, but the arrangement had this advantage,—­that no one knew them or could taunt them with their past trouble.  She was not sure that she was going to like New York.  It had a great name and was really a great place, but the very bigness of it frightened her and made her feel alone, for she knew that there could not be so many people together without a deal of wickedness.  She did not argue the complement of this, that the amount of good would also be increased, but this was because to her evil was the very present factor in her life.