time, the girl has
been thinking of what she has heard, has pictured to herself a
brilliant future--a rich husband--every luxury and enjoyment--and,
upon the whole, has built so many castles in the air, that her
brain is half-bewildered. Even though she may not believe a
tittle of what is said to her, feminine curiosity will generally
lead her to make a second visit; and when the fortune-teller sees
her come upon a like errand a second time, she sets down her prey
as tolerably sure and lays her plans accordingly.

"She goes on to state to the girl, in her usual rigmarole style,
that she will, in a few weeks, meet with a lover; and perhaps she
may receive a present of jewelry; and by that she will know that
the 'handsome young man' has seen, and been smitten by her many
charms.

"When the half-believing girl has gone, the scheming sorceress
calls to her aid her confederate in the game--the party who is to
personate 'the handsome young man.' This is usually a spruce-looking
fellow, who makes this particular kind of work his regular business;
or it may be some rich debauchee, who is seeking another victim,
will come and lie in wait, either behind the curtain or in the
next room, where, through some well-contrived crevice, he can see
and hear all that is going on. One or the other of these men it
is that is to assist the witch in fulfilling her prophecies; who
is, at the proper time, to be in the way to personate the 'young
beau,' or 'rich southerner,' and to induce her to visit a house
of assignation, or, in some way, accomplish her ruin.

"Persons who have been puzzled to know how many of the young
fellows get their living who are seen about town, always well
dressed, and with plenty of cash, and yet having no apparently
respectable means of living, will find a future solution of their
questions in this explanation. Many of these men are 'kept' by
their mistresses, or by the proprietors of houses of ill-fame; in
the latter case, to make acquaintance with strangers, and to
bring business to those houses. They are often very fine-looking
and well-appearing men, and possessed of good natural abilities;
but, from laziness or crime, or some other cause, adopt the
meanest possible business a man can stoop to. Humiliating as this
may seem, and degrading as it is to poor human nature, what we
state is, nevertheless, the literal truth.

"But, to come back to our supposed case. A few days after her
visit to the witch, the gi