“I dared not ask her about her home or her parents. One day she came to me asking me to go with her to the station to meet a friend, as she put it. That friend was her father. I would not have gone for worlds for I was not inclined to make anyone suffer. I am sure I did not expect to be a witness of what happened. I gave him credit for having more sense, but as she led me to meet him, instead of being a man and accepting his position by bowing to the circumstances, he turned his back on me, grabbed Ione by the arm, and hurried her into a carriage.
“He came to me the next day and his abuse was as shameful and disgraceful as it was uncalled for. He insisted that I had taken foul means to poison his child’s mind. I begged for pity. I tried to stay his scathing tongue; but, no. He would show me, a public woman, how to entice a pure young girl from her duty. Then he struck me, the brute. I might have forgiven all he said, for I suppose he was sincere in his belief, but he should not have been so cruel as to use personal violence. He went away and left me lying on the floor in agony. My mind was quickly made up. He prized this daughter so highly that he could lay me low in the dust and dirt. I, who should have been mother to his second child the same as I was to the first. My child by him had long ago been food for the worms. I resolved that his daughter should meet a fate worse than did his son. I would ruin her and then ask him to strike again, strike the kind of a blow that he deserved when I was young and fair like his much beloved daughter.
“The plan was long. I had many admirers, several of whom professed to love me; one in particular whom I think meant it. I sent for him and quickly told him that I had been injured, and that a certain young lady was the cause of it. He immediately grew gallant and suggested that he assist me in punishing my tormenter. That was what I wanted. He would do anything for me especially when there was a girl in the case. I told him how he could meet her. He followed my instructions, went to her and represented himself as a theatrical man who was just organizing a company.
“She took the bait easily and when she was more than half drunk he brought her to my home, where several members of the profession had gathered for a little dinner. She soon forgot all about the footlights, and when she was thoroughly under the influence we put her to bed. Her downfall was as complete as the plan that caused it. We kept her there for four days and to make my victory more pronounced I wired for her father. His curse on her was worse than the one that rested upon me. He cast her off and attempted to strike her but I was on the lookout. I put myself between him and her with a dagger. He was a coward.
“He went away. Ione became herself again but she was a pitiable object. She wanted so much to die. Just at this time the Prince came unexpectedly; he had concluded that he could not live without me and had come to take me, rank or no rank. He met Ione Singleton; her sadness caused him to ask questions. I told him all, and then with my arms around his neck asked him if he wished me to be happy.
“‘Of course I do, dearest, and came to try and make you so.’
“‘Then,’ said I, ‘marry Ione, and not me.’
“He objected, but I would not yield, and she is a princess now, having lavished upon her the same kind treatment which almost healed the wound so much like hers, that I had suffered.”