tenfold. Then I cast her away from me roughly, whereupon followed
yells mixed with savage laughter. She, poor girl, regained her
composure, and gazed at the multitude with the dignity of an outraged
queen. And _they_ laughed the more! Laughed the more!

At length we were set free, and made our way to a large apartment,
where we were divested of our wraps, and left in costumes better
adapted to late June than to early March, or mid-December. We were
then ordered to advance. We were driven from one bitterly cold room
to another, until we knew not whether the blood was circulating in
our veins, or had frozen. We had many fellow-sufferers, and these poor
creatures pushed against us, and fought with us. The great object of
everyone was to get to the end of our journey!

She staggered bravely along, until at last they took away the yards
of satin she carried round her arm, and spread it out behind. Then her
name was uttered, or, rather, mispronounced. She sank on her knees;
and, on regaining her feet, was hustled away, to follow a number of
fellow-victims who had been treated with like indignity.

Once more there was the bitter cold. This time the draughts were met
in that hall, and endured, until the conveyance arrived to move us
on--she to stand for a couple of hours amidst gossiping friends, and I
to go to bed.

But the seeds of death were sown! She never recovered the shock, and
an addition to the inscriptions above the family-vault tells of her
early decease!

And who was this poor girl? A homeless one, wandering the streets