He had walked some time along the Strand, amidst a crowd of those
wretches who wait the uncertain wages of prostitution, with ideas of
pity suitable to the scene around him and the feelings he possessed,
and had got as far as Somerset House, when one of them laid hold of
his arm, and, with a voice tremulous and faint, asked him for a pint
of wine, in a manner more supplicatory than is usual with those whom
the infamy of their profession has deprived of shame. He turned
round at the demand, and looked steadfastly on the person who made
it.

She was above the common size, and elegantly formed; her face was
thin and hollow, and showed the remains of tarnished beauty. Her
eyes were black, but had little of their lustre left; her cheeks had
some paint laid on without art, and productive of no advantage to
her complexion, which exhibited a deadly paleness on the other parts
of her face.

Harley stood in the attitude of hesitation; which she, interpreting
to her advantage, repeated her request, and endeavoured to force a
leer of invitation into her countenance. He took her arm, and they
walked on to one of those obsequious taverns in the neighbourhood,
where the dearness of the wine is a discharge in full for the
character of the house. From what impulse he did this we do not
mean to enquire; as it has ever been against our nature to search
for motives where bad ones are to be found. They entered, and a
waiter showed them a room, and placed a bottle of claret on the
table.

Harley filled the lady's glass: which she had no sooner tasted,
than dropping it on the floor, and eagerly catching his arm, her eye