When the door was opened by a middle aged female, whose miserable and dirty attire made her look twenty years older than she was, the olfactory nerves of the young gentleman were assailed by a grievous combination of various odours, among which onions, tobacco, and gin, were the predominant. Asking of the miserable being who opened the door whether Clarke was within, he was told to walk up stairs. Very slowly and very cautiously did he mount the creaking staircase, setting his foot gently and inquiringly upon each successive stair to ascertain whether it would bear his weight: of one or two he had so much distrust as to step completely over them. When arrived at the first landing-place, he heard a multitude of voices, which he naturally supposed to proceed from some gentlemen of the fancy. Without knocking at the door, he immediately let himself in, and found to his great astonishment that he had mistaken the apartment. He found himself surrounded by a group of dark-complexioned, sallow-looking, unshorn beings; some of whom were sitting on the floor, others on crazy boxes and broken chairs, and all of whom were smoking cigars. The dingy dress which they wore, and the faded decorations which were suspended on their left breast, immediately proclaimed them to be emigrants. As soon as he entered the room, their voices were stilled, and they turned their inquiring and sickened looks towards him as if to a harbinger of some intelligence of good. The moment that he felt where and with whom he was thus accidentally placed, his spirit sunk within him; and he did feel a deep compassion for the miserable objects which surrounded him. One of the party, by the freshness of his dress and the cleanliness of his person, appeared to have arrived but recently among them. He was a man of middle age, wearing a very respectable military dress; and though of thoughtful look, he did not appear dejected or heartbroken. To him Mr. Martindale addressed himself in the Italian language, apologising for his accidental and unintentional intrusion. The stranger replied in English, spoken with a foreign accent, but with tolerable fluency, stating that he had just arrived in England, and being directed to where he could find some of his fellow-countrymen, he had but recently entered the house, and was grieved to see them so situated. He also said that he himself was not much better provided for, but that his wife and child were in England, though he could not at present discover in what part of the country. He said that he had received letters from them, but that those letters were lost, with part of his own luggage. But he trusted, he continued, that he should find out, by inquiry, where his family was; and he concluded a long harangue by asking Philip Martindale, with great simplicity, if he knew where Mr. Smith lived.