I felt I could speak. "My name is Jane Spencer." Anxious as ever to avoid discovery, I had before resolved to assume an alias. "And where do you live? Where are your friends?" "I have no home or friends." "Can we send for anyone you know?" I shook my head. "What account can you give of yourself?" Somehow, now that I had once crossed the threshold of this house and was brought face-to-face with its owners, I felt no longer outcast by the wide world. I began once more to know myself, but I wasn't sure how much to offer. "Sir, I can give you no details tonight." "But what, then," said he, "do you expect me to do for you?" "I will trust you. If I were a dog, I know that you would not turn me from your hearth tonight. As it is, I really have no fear. Do with me and for me as you like, but excuse me from much discourse. My breath is short--I feel a spasm when I speak." A pleasant stupor was stealing over me as I sat by the genial fire. One of the young ladies was giving directions to hannah.
