ever since."

"You could sing like the birds. You do--almost. You could be taught to
sing as freely and sweetly and naturally as a flower gives perfume.
That is YOUR divine gift, young lady song as pure and fresh as a bird's
song raining down through the leaves from the tree-top."

"I have no money. I've got to get it, and I shall get it," continued
Mildred. "I want you to teach me--at any hour that you are free. And
I want to know how much you will charge, so that I shall know how much
to get."

"Two dollars a lesson. Or, if you take six lessons a week, ten
dollars. Those were my terms. I could not take less."

"It is too little," said Mildred. "The poorest kinds of teachers get
five dollars an hour--and teach nothing."

"Two dollars, ten dollars a week," replied he. "It is the most I ever
could get. I will not take more from you."

"It is too little," said she. "But I'll not insist--for obvious
reasons. Now, if you'll give me your home address, I'll go. When I
get the money, I'll write to you."

"But wait!" cried he, as she rose to depart. "Why so hurried? Let us
see. Take of the wrap. Step behind the screen and loosen your corset.
Perhaps even you could take it off?"

"Not without undressing," said Mildred. "But I can do that if it's
necessary." She laughed queerly. "From this time on I'll do ANYTHING
that's necessary."

"No,--never mind. The dress of woman--of your kind of women. It is
not serious." He laughed grimly. "As for the other kind, their dress
is the only serious thing about them. It is a mistake to think that
women who dress badly are serious. My experience has been that they
are the most foolish of all. Fashionable dress--it is part of a
woman's tools. It shows that she is good at her business. The women
who try to dress like men, they are good neither at men's business nor
at women's."

This, while Mildred was behind the screen, loosening her
corset--though, in fact, she wore it so loose at all times that she
inconvenienced herself simply to show her willingness to do as she was
told. When she came out, Moldini put her through a rigid physical
examination--made her breathe while he held one hand on her stomach,
the other on her back, listened at her heart, opened wide her throat
and peered down, thrust his long strong fingers deep into the muscles
of her arms, her throat, her chest, until she had difficulty in not
crying out with pain.

"The foundation is ther