"Thank you, Detective Carter," bowed the girl, blushing warmly. Then she hastened to add: "Still, I am not a prude, sir—don't think I mean that. In my profession one is obliged to be on friendly terms with a great many persons, both men and women. At the theater, for instance, I meet many men and form many acquaintances, both agreeable and the reverse."
"And sometimes have the attentions of men fairly forced upon you, I imagine?" said Nick, inquiringly, with a brighter gleam lighting his earnest eyes.
"Yes, sir; sometimes," Violet demurely admitted.
Nick drew forward in his chair, and Chick saw that he had caught up the thread at that moment suggested to himself.
"Miss Page," said Nick, more impressively, "I now want you to answer me without the slightest reserve."
"I will, sir," bowed Violet, with a startled look.
"Has any man of the late vaudeville company, or one connected with the theater, endeavored to force his love upon you?"
"No, sir; not one."
"Or any visitor admitted to the stage?"
"Well—yes, sir," faltered Violet, quite timidly. "Since you press me thus gravely, I must admit that I have been obliged to repel the affection of a certain man. Yet, please don't infer, sir, that he has ever been ungentlemanly. He even has done me the honor, if one can so term an undesired proposal, to protest that he wished to make me his wife."