“No one can do that,” she answered, speaking naturally for the first time.
“Why not? How did you come to take to this life?”
“It’s a long story. There was a young man who had promised to marry me, and I trusted him, like too many others.”
Johann smiled cynically. Fortunately she could not see his face, and the King listened to her with a kind look, which disarmed her in spite of herself.
“And he refused to marry you afterwards?”
“Yes.” The girl seemed reluctant to say more; but, after another glance at her questioner, she added, “You see, I had a baby, and then he was ashamed of me.”
“He deserved to be—” Maximilian checked himself. “And the baby?” he asked gently. “Is it still alive?”
“No.”
She said the word harshly, but as the calm friendly eyes of the King continued to read her own she melted again.
“He died after just three months, and I sold everything I had to bury him. Then I came here.”