Sentence:  "He'd come in for something to eat—the red-bearded one. We had quite a chat. I told him we were traveling like Stevenson—with a donkey; but that one of the ladies had an abscess on a tooth and was going home. He said it was no place for women and offered himself as an <WSD>escort</WSD>." 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An accompanying person in a social gathering, etc.