“I thanked him for the advice and started out to find some one, but whom could I find? The only person I knew in New York had undoubtedly left there, and if he had not I would not dare go to him. But I did dare anyway. I knew not what else to do. I made inquiry at his hotel, and found to my half hearted delight that he had not yet sailed, but would leave that night. ‘Good!’ I thought, ‘I will detain him but a short time; he will help me to a position and it will not interfere with his trip.’
“I waited for his coming. He greeted me effusively, and told me he had waited and knew I would come.
“I explained all to him and asked him to help me that I might secure a position and be able to repay him all he had expended in my behalf. He laughed at me and said: ‘Yes, of course, but let’s talk it over.’
“It was dinner time and he suggested that as he had lunched early and I looked tired and hungry, that we go to dinner.
“We had dinner at Delmonico’s, and breakfast on board an ocean liner bound for Liverpool. People can say all they please about not knowing what they do while under the influence of intoxicants, but I know that as a rule they are conscious of every act, but simply do not care. At the dinner I have just told you of, we had wine. I rather enjoyed the sensation it produced, it made me forgetful of all my troubles, and appreciative of all my friend had done, so that when he proposed that we sail and not try for the stage again, I was a willing participant in the carriage ride that took us to the docks. How I got on board the ship I do not know. What happened during the night I cannot remember, for slumber relieved me of all the horror attending the desecration of my virginity. I simply know that during our trip I was Mrs. H. Bartel.
“We traveled for a year and then he brought me back to Chicago. He furnished a house, put $1,000 in the bank to my credit, and bade me good-by.
“He went out of my life as quickly as I seemed to have lost cast in his. I began by keeping roomers; that did not pay. Then some of the fashionable men whom I had known in my palmy days approached me with a request that I allow them to hold clandestine meetings with women at my home. They paid well for the liberty.
“From that I went one step further, and became the landlady of a house of bad repute, entering the field openly and above board.
“Three months ago a woman applied to my house for admission. She looked fairly good and I took her in. I paid little attention to her, and such affairs were so common that I did not attempt to wring from her any ancient history. Her face had a familiar look, that at times puzzled me, but I did not give her much thought. One day I found a picture on her dresser. It was a picture of Leslie. I flew into a rage and questioned her closely. She told me she was his wife, made so by circumstances not conducive to happiness. I concealed my surprise. I knew then where I had seen her face. I managed to keep the truth from her and in a day or two found an excuse to expel her from my house. The last I heard of her she had become a frequenter of these places along the street here. Today I received this letter and picture from Leslie, and my business here tonight is to comply with his request if possible. Here is the letter, I will read it:
“‘Dear Jeanette: I have just learned what you are engaged in, also that my wife is an inmate of your establishment. May God grant that you are not aware of the fact, for although I have mistreated you shamefully, I will not believe that you have hunted her up and taken this method of revenge on me. Enclosed find her picture, the one I showed you before. For Heaven’s sake, send her to me and my baby.