Vaguely she
wondered--without caring to question or guess what particular
form of activity this young man had taken in avoiding
monotonous work at small pay.
After her second drink came she found that she did not want it.
She felt tired and sleepy and wished to get her wet stockings
off and to dry her skirt which, for all her careful holding up,
had not escaped the fate of whatever was exposed to that
abominable night. "I'm going along with you," said the young
man as she rose. "Here's to our better acquaintance."
"Thanks, but I want to be alone," replied she affably. And,
not to seem unappreciative of his courtesy, she took a small
drink from her glass. It tasted very queer. She glanced
suspiciously at the young man. Her legs grew suddenly and
strangely heavy. her heart began to beat violently, and a
black fog seemed to be closing in upon her eyes. Through it
she saw the youth grinning sardonically. And instantly she
knew. "What a fool I am!" she thought.
She had been trapped by another form of the slave system. This
man was a recruiting sergeant for houses of prostitution--was
one of the "cadets." They search the tenement districts for
good-looking girls and young women. They hang about the street
corners, flirting. They attend the balls where go the young
people of the lower middle class and upper lower class. They
learn to make love seductively; they understand how to tempt a
girl's longing for finery, for an easier life, her dream of a
husband above her class in looks and in earning power.
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