"By the nose of Napoleon! what can have become of the little minx? lost or stolen?--most probably the latter, for in this infernal city a pretty girl like her, so unprotected and so poor, can no more traverse the streets with safety, than can a fine fat goose waddle into the den of a wolf unharmed. Curses on these lampposts, I am always breaking my neck against them--bah! Well, to consider: but why the devil do I interest myself in this little girl at all? Is it because I am a lonely, solitary old codger, with neither chick nor child to bless me with their love, and whom I may love in return? Bah! no--that can't be; and yet, somehow, there is a vacant corner in my old heart, and the image of that little girl seems to fill it exactly. I am an old fool, and yet--damn you, sir, what d'ye mean by running against me, eh!--and yet, it did me more good to see that hungry family last night, eat the food that I had provided for them, than it did when I, Gregory Grimsby, was promoted to the elevated rank of Corporal. Now about this little girl--I'll bet my three-cornered cock'd hat against a pinch of Scotch snuff that she has been abducted--entrapped into the power of some scoundrel for the worst of purposes. That's the most natural supposition that I can get at. Now display thy logic, Corporal: thy supposed scoundrel must be rich, for poor men can seldom afford such expensive luxuries as mistresses; being rich implies that he is _respectable_--so the world says and thinks--bah! Being respectable, he would not compromise his character by engaging personally in such a low business as entrapping a girl; no--he would employ an _agent_; and such an agent must necessarily be a very low person, whether male or female--if a male, he is a ruffian--if a female, she is a strumpet--and where do ruffians and strumpets, of the _lower orders_ (for even in crime there is an aristocracy)[A] where do they usually reside? why, in a congenial atmosphere--in the lowest section of the city; and what is the lowest section of this city? why, _Ann street_, to be sure. Truly, Corporal Grimsby, thou art an admirable logician! So now I am on my way to Ann street, to explore its dens, in the hope (a vain one, I fear) of finding the supposed agent who was employed by the supposed rich scoundrel to abduct, kidnap, or entrap my little Fanny. Should I be so fortunate as to find that agent, money will readily induce him or her to divulge the place where the girl is hid; for the principle of "honor among thieves" has, I believe, but an imaginary existence."