text: ) How can I be useful ma'am? Don't you think it's a curious coincidence we travelled together ma'am and both of us coming to the same town? It strikes me to be very singular; doesn't it you ma'am?" "I shall be glad of it if"-- "Ah! by-the-bye--another queer thing is your applying to me--a man past the bloom of boyhood to be sure in fact a little beyond"-- "The prime of life " added the lady not regarding the disappointed look with which her interpolation was received; "it is for that reason sir I throw myself on your kindness; you have perhaps daughters sir or grandchildren who"-- "Devil a one