Alas! how _could_ I have any presentiment of the worse danger lurking in store for me?
How could I, young, innocent, and inexperienced, foresee the unforeseeable?
I could not.
Reviewing all the circumstances by the light of wiser days, I still deny that I was in any way, shape, or manner to blame for what occurred.

I sat in my half of the seat, occupying as little room as possible, my eyes fixed on the crimson plush cushions of the seat before me, my thoughts busy with the mortifying past, and the great unknown future into which I was blindly rushing at the rate of thirty miles an hour--sat there, dreading the great city into which I was so soon to plunge--when a voice, closely resembling vinegar sweetened with honey, said, close to my ear: "Goin' to New York, sir ?" "Yes, ma'am," I answered, coming out of my reverie with a little jump.
"I'm real glad," said my companion, taking off her blue spectacles, and leaning toward me confidentially; "so I am.

I'm quite unprotected, sir, quite, and I shall be thankful to place myself under your care.
I'm goin' down to the city to buy my spring stock o' millinery, an' any little attention you can show me will be gratefully received--gratefully.

I don't mind admitting to _you_, young man, for you look pure and uncorrupted, that I am terribly afraid of men.

They are wicked, heartless creatures.