eat fuss about that--maybe
you heard of it."

"I did," said Jurgis, "I heard of it afterward." (It had happened in the
place where he and Duane had taken refuge from their "country customer."
The girl had become insane, fortunately for the police.)

"There's lots of money in it," said Marija--"they get as much as forty
dollars a head for girls, and they bring them from all over. There are
seventeen in this place, and nine different countries among them.
In some places you might find even more. We have half a dozen French
girls--I suppose it's because the madame speaks the language. French
girls are bad, too, the worst of all, except for the Japanese. There's
a place next door that's full of Japanese women, but I wouldn't live in
the same house with one of them."

Marija paused for a moment or two, and then she added: "Most of the
women here are pretty decent--you'd be surprised. I used to think they
did it because they liked to; but fancy a woman selling herself to
every kind of man that comes, old or young, black or white--and doing it
because she likes to!"

"Some of them say they do," said Jurgis.

"I know," said she; "they say anything. They're in, and they know they
can't get out. But they didn't like it when they began--you'd find
out--it's always misery! There's a little Jewish girl here who used to
run errands for a milliner, and got sick and lost her place; and she was
four days on the streets without a mouthful of food, and then she went
to a place just around the corner and offered herself, and they made her
give up her clothes before they would give her a bite to eat!"

Marija sat for a minute or two, brooding somberly. "Tell me about
yourself, Jurgis," she said, suddenly. "Where have you been?"

So he told her the long story of his adventures since his flight from
home; his life as a tramp, and his work in the freight tunnels, and the
accident; and then of Jack Duane, and of his political career in the
stockyards, and his downfall and subsequent failures. Marija listened
with sympathy; it was easy to believe the tale of his late starvation,
for his face showed it all. "You found me just in the nick of time," she
said. "I'll stand by you--I'll help you till you can get some work."

"I don't like to let you--" he began.

"Why not? Because I'm here?"

"No, not that," he said. "But I went off and left you--"

"Nonsense!" said Marija. "Don't think about it. I don't blame you."

"You must be hungry,