Nella, uncertain what to do, stepped down from her carriage and gave the driver some money.

At the same moment a man reopened the door of the house, which had closed on Miss Spencer.
'I want to see Miss Spencer,' said Nella impulsively.

She couldn't think of anything else to say.
'Miss Spencer?
'Yes; she's just arrived.' 'It's O.K., I suppose,' said the man.
'I guess so,' said Nella, and she walked past him into the house.

She was astonished at her own audacity.
Miss Spencer was just going into a room off the narrow hall.

Nella followed her into the apartment, which was shabbily furnished in the Belgian lodging-house style.
'Well, Miss Spencer,' she greeted the former Baroness Zerlinski, 'I guess you didn't expect to see me.