herself remarked on and pointed at; already she had seen in the crowded and heated room more than one of the boon companions of her quondam lover. What was she to do? She had never dreamt of such awful degradation as she saw there. She had never believed in its existence. She thought such a place would have never been tolerated by the police, and impossible in a Christian land. Men jeered at her, as she stood with the hot blood crimsoning her cheek, while the made-up women around seemed, to her, grinning over her impending fall. Was she to become one of them—to renounce all modesty and virtue, to drink of the wine-cup offered her on every side, in the delirium of the hour to enlist in the devil’s service, to put on his livery and to take his pay? Well, she was poor, but not so poor as all that—as long as she had the use of her senses. Better poverty itself than a life of shame. For awhile she stood dazed and frightened, forgetting where she was, and that all eyes were upon her. Presently she was recalled to herself by a gentleman coming up and asking her to dance. She refused. ‘Then what the d--- are you here for?’ was his rough reply. She turned away speechless—horror-struck—especially as she saw the amusement of the half-tipsy bystanders. ‘A deuced fine girl, upon my word!’ ‘Fresh as Hebe,’ said another. ‘Artfulness itself,’ was the remark of another. ‘Yes; that virtuous air is all put on,’ said one of the women present. ‘You may depend upon it she is no better than she should be, although she looks so shy.’ ‘Yes; a very promising filly,’ said the last speaker’s male friend. ‘I’ve half a mind to make up to her myself.’ ‘You had better stay where you are, old man,’ replied his female friend, as she gave him a fond caress. Poor Rose knew by their looks that they were talking at her, and she trembled from head to foot. Oh that she could hide herself, that she could get out of the room! but, no, that was impossible. CHAPTER X UNDER THE STARS. What could Rose do in that den of wild men and wilder women, the like of which was to be seen in no other country under heaven, licensed by Act of Parliament, past which bishops drove down on their way to make speeches at Exeter Hall on behalf of the Bible Society, or of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts? Again and again she wished she were veil out of that _inferno_, where she was stared at on every side. ‘Surely you will dance, miss,’ said the master of the ceremonies, approaching her respectfully. ‘Allow me to introduce you to Lord ---’ Again Rose declined, much to the annoyance of a debauched, sickly youth, who was ‘my lord,’ and reverenced as such accordingly. My lord revived his spirits with an S. and B., and was soon whirling round the room with another in his arms.