I've seen her when she'd have torn him in pieces." Happily then for Diamond, old Sal had gone out to get some gin.

When he came to her door at the bottom of the area-stair and knocked, he received no answer.

He laid his ear to the door, and thought he heard a moaning within.

So he tried the door, and found it was not locked! It was a dreary place indeed,--and very dark, for the window was below the level of the street, and covered with mud, while over the grating which kept people from falling into the area, stood a chest of drawers, placed there by a dealer in second-hand furniture, which shut out almost all the light.

And the smell in the place was dreadful.