ilty and depraved woman sank back upon a sofa, and her paramour
clasped her in his arms.

Let no one say that our narrative is becoming too improbable for belief,
that the scenes which we depict find no parallel in real life. Those who
are disposed to be skeptical with reference to such scenes as the
foregoing had better throw this volume aside; for crimes of a much
deeper dye, than any yet described, will be brought forward in this
tale: crimes that are daily perpetrated, but which are seldom discovered
or suspected. We have undertaken a difficult and painful task, and we
shall accomplish it; unrestrained by a false delicacy, we shall drag
forth from the dark and mysterious labyrinths of great cities, the
hidden iniquities which taint the moral atmosphere, and assimilate human
nature to the brute creation.

Five days after the occurrences just described, in the middle of the
afternoon, Miss Julia Fairfield rode out in her carriage alone, driven
by the black, Nero. The vehicle stopped before a house of respectable
exterior, in Washington street, and the young lady was assisted to
alight; entering the house, she was received by an elderly female, who
immediately conducted her to a private room, which contained a bed and
furniture of a neat but unostentatious description. The carriage drove
away, and Julia remained several hours in the house. At about nine
o'clock in the evening, the carriage returned, and she was assisted to
enter, being apparently in a very feeble and unwell condition. She
reached her own dwelling, and for over a week remained in her chamber,
under plea of severe indisposition. When at length she made her
appearance, she looked extremely pale, and somewhat emaciated; yet, for
the first time in several months, she wore a tight-fitting dress, and
her father, unconscious of her crimes, good-naturedly expressed his joy
at seeing her 'once more dressed like a Christian lady, and not in the
loose and slatternly robes she had so long persisted in wearing.'

The next morning after her visits to the house on Washington Street, the
newspapers contained a notice of the discovery of the body of a newborn
mulatto child, in the water off the Bowery. That child was the offspring
of Miss Julia and the black; it had been strangled, and its body thrown
into the water.

About three weeks after her secret accouchement, Julia became the wife
of Frank Sydney. An elegant establishment had been prepared for the
young coupl