soon.

She grew dizzy with excitement and the exertion, and sank back in the
chair a moment, to regain her strength. The chair creaked. No, it was a
knock at the door. It proved what the last woman had said. "Ask, and it
shall be given unto you."

She had wished for some one to call on her. The whole boarding-house was
coming. She was giving a party.

This time it was another voice out of the darkness. It must have been
Miss Bessett's. She spoke in a cold, hard, hasty tone. "Going out, my
dear? Alone, I hope? No, the baby's wrapped up! You're not going to be
so foolish as to lug that baby along? He brands you at once. Nobody will
want you round with a squalling baby. Oh, of course he's a pretty child;
but he's too noisy. He'll ruin every chance you have.

"You're really very pretty, my dear. The landlady said so. If she
noticed it, you must be a beauty, indeed. This is a great town for
pretty girls. There's a steady market for them.

"The light is poor here, but beauty like yours glows even in darkness,
and that's what they want, the men. The world will pay anything for
beauty, if beauty has the brains to ask a high price and not give too
much for it.

"Think of the slaves who have become queens, the mistresses who have
become empresses. There are rich women all over town who came by their
money dishonestly. You should see some of them in the Park with their
automobiles. You'd be ashamed even to let them run over you. Yet, if you
were dressed up, you'd look better than any of the automobile brigade.

"You might be a great singer. I've heard you crooning to the baby. You
find a rich man and make him pay for your lessons, and then you make
eyes at the manager and, before you know it, you'll be engaged for the
opera and earning a thousand dollars a night--more than that, maybe.

"Think how much that means. It would make you mighty glad you didn't
marry that young gawp at home. He's a cheap skate to get you into this
trouble and not help you out.

"But I'll set you in the way of making a mint of money. There's only one
thing: you must give up the baby and never let anybody know you ever had
it. Don't freeze up and turn away. There are so many ways of disposing
of a baby. Send it to a foundling asylum. No questions will be asked.
The baby will have the best of care and grow so strong that some rich
couple will insist on adopting it, or you could come back when you are
married to a rich man and pretend you took a f