"Didn't you ever miss it?" he asked.

"Of course I missed it. But what difference did that make? It would have
died of hunger with me."

"Still," he said, "it was your child--"

"It was the father's child, too, wasn't it? Much attention he paid to
it! If I had been sure of getting money enough, I would have put it out
to nurse. But with the twenty-five or thirty francs a month I could have
earned as a servant, could I have paid for a baby? That's the situation
a girl faces--so long as I wanted to remain honest, it was impossible
for me to keep my child. You answer, perhaps, 'You didn't stay honest
anyway.' That's true. But then--when you are hungry, and a nice young
fellow offers you dinner, you'd have to be made of wood to refuse him.
Of course, if I had had a trade--but I didn't have any. So I went on the
street--You know how it is."

"Tell us about it," said the doctor. "This gentleman is from the
country."

"Is that so?" said the girl. "I never supposed there was anyone who
didn't know about such things. Well, I took the part of a little
working-girl. A very simple dress--things I had made especially for
that--a little bundle in a black napkin carried in my hand--so I walked
along where the shops are. It's tiresome, because to do it right, you
have to patter along fast. Then I stop before a shop, and nine times out
of ten, there you are! A funny thing is that the men--you'd imagine
they had agreed on the words to approach you with. They have only two
phrases; they never vary them. It's either, 'You are going fast, little
one.' Or it's, 'Aren't you afraid all alone?' One thing or the other.
One knows pretty well what they mean. Isn't it so?" The girl paused,
then went on. "Again, I would get myself up as a young widow. There,
too, one has to walk fast: I don't know why that should be so, but it
is. After a minute or two of conversation, they generally find out that
I am not a young widow, but that doesn't make any difference--they go on
just the same."

"Who are the men?" asked the deputy. "Clerks? Traveling salesmen?"

"Not much," she responded. "I keep a lookout for gentlemen--like
yourself."

"They SAY they are gentlemen," he suggested.

"Sometimes I can see it," was the response. "Sometimes they wear orders.
It's funny--if they have on a ribbon when you first notice them, they
follow you, and presto--the ribbon is gone! I always laugh over that.
I've watched them in the glass of the shop windows. Th