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THE DEVIL'S AMBASSADOR 129
made much of a fuss. All we can do is to
keep the bad sort out of our places. I do
try very hard to keep a nice, quiet, respectable
house, where gentlemen may consider themselves
safe. A quite safe house pays best in
the long run."
I begged madame to tell me the
of her life. She hesitated, and then
story
very
all that has
sadly said, "Well, if telling
happened to me would prevent any poor
young sweet girl following in my footsteps,
I will certainly tell you, for, after all, it is
ignorance
and innocence that cause so much
havoc among young girls. Had I not been
an ignorant wench, I would not now be here
that's very certain."
I ordered more wine, and asked her if, in
the early days of her career, she had been
an artist's model. "No," she said; "nor did
I go off with a medical student; nor was I
a parson's daughter, led astray by a bold,
bad curate. None of these foolish stories be-
long to me," and she laughed, quite naturally.
"My history," she said, "is an ordinary one.
father was an artisan in one of the rural
My
districts far away from Vienna. My mother
was a good and pious soul, who managed the
affairs of our little cottage and eked out the
meagre income by doing plain needlework
and crotchet-work for the gentry of the neighbourhood.
I was the only child ; the hope
and joy and the dearest thing life had given
my parents. Eor the rest, they had incessant
toil and the manifold burdens of poverty. I
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