"I have hoped and prayed that I would not live long, that I would grow ugly in features and a person whom men would shun, but in vain. But I know that sooner or later my hope will be realized."
"But I can help to save you. I can put you in a position where you can earn a respectable living and where you will be happy," pleaded the reporter.
For a time the girl was in deep thought. When she raised her head again her eyes were wet with tears.
"I couldn't do it. I can never be anything else now," she said. "Were I to take a position, it would be but a question of time until some man who had seen me in this place would recognize me. I would be discharged and driven into even a deeper life of shame.
"It is impossible to even contemplate such a thing.
"When a woman falls, she falls never to rise again. The thoughts of her evil life are forever a menace to her. They pursue her constantly. She never can resume her former sphere in life."
"Isn't there anything that I can do to cause you to come with me and do right?" asked the reporter.
"There is nothing that anyone can do. What I am now I will always be," she replied.
"Won't you at least meet me away from this awful place and try to spend at least part of your evenings in the respectable way to which you were accustomed?" was asked.
"I will meet you where no one would recognize either you or I," was the reply. "I would not disgrace you by having anyone know me.