Page:Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Volume 4.djvu/47

 thing. But the Gardens can't be far off, so I'll try again."

"We never shall find it, so we had better ask the man to take us at once to some station, work-house, or refuge till morning," remarked M, in such a tone of sleepy resignation that I shook her on the spot.

Another jaunt up and down, fog getting thicker, night later, one woman sleepier and the other crosser every minute, but still no haven hove in sight. Presently the cab stopped with a decided bump against the curb-stone, and the driver reappeared, saying, with respectful firmness,—

"My horse is beat out, and it's past my time for turning in, so if this ain't the place I shall have to give it up, mum."

"It is not the place," I answered, getting out with the calmness of despair.

"There's a light in that house and a woman looking out. Go and ask her where we are," suggested M, waking from her doze.

Ready now for any desperate measure, I rushed up the steps, tried vainly to read the number, but could not, and rang the bell with the firm determination to stay in that house till morning at any cost.

Steps came running down, the door flew open,