'And it's that exposed, miss, and the canvas that thin, I'm sure my every action will be silhoutted for all who wants to see when there's a lamp alight inside of it. And oh, miss, to have no door to lock at nights, and to lie there open all round, a kind of tempting thieves and robbers and such-like persons to come and do their worst! Oh, miss, I never should have thought it. I came prepared like for this savage country, miss, but to think that I should spend the very first night on the roof, miss! Oh, I never should have thought I could have done it!'
It was not until the manager had assured us that no other room of any kind was available that Ermyntrude became resigned. 'A cellar, even a cellar,' she had urged pathetically while there was yet hope, 'anywhere, miss, where I can be a bit more private like.' But the manager had shaken his head. So there was nothing left for Ermyntrude but to retire to her tent upon the roof, where the heat, she told me afterwards, was 'like a foresight of 'ell, so to speak, miss.' But even that she preferred to the lonely watches of the night, which were 'that gruesome you couldn't sleep for thinking of all the nasty wicked things you'd done and feeling sorry.'
There didn't seem to be any attempt to make things comfortable in that hotel. I thought at first, when they showed me my room, that there must be spring-cleaning on. There was nothing in it except the bare necessities of life—no carpet, only a narrow strip of matting on the floor; a bed, a
