And for
each recruit "broken in" and hardened to the point of
willingness to go into a sporting house, they get from the
proprietor ten to twenty-five dollars according to her youth
and beauty. Susan knew all about the system, had heard stories
of it from the lips of girls who had been embarked through
it--embarked a little sooner than they would have embarked
under the lash of want, or of that other and almost equally
compelling brute, desire for the comforts and luxuries that
mean decent living. Susan knew; yet here she was, because of
an unguarded moment, and because of a sense of security through
experience--here she was, succumbing to knockout drops as easily
as the most innocent child lured away from its mother's door to
get a saucer of ice cream! She tried to rise, to scream,
though she knew any such effort was futile.
With a gasp and a sigh her head fell forward and she was unconscious.
She awakened in a small, rather dingy room. She was lying on
her back with only stockings on. Beyond the foot of the bed
was a little bureau at which a man, back full to her, stood in
trousers and shirt sleeves tying his necktie. She saw that he
was a rough looking man, coarsely dressed--an artisan or small
shop-keeper. Used as she was to the profound indifference of
men of all classes and degrees of education and intelligence to
what the woman thought--used as she was to this sensual
selfishness which men at least in part conceal from their
respectable wives, Susan felt a horror of this man who had not
minded her unconsciousness.
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