ELFRIEDE--I have already explained it to the--lady, as clearly as I can possibly explain it, =why= I am here. CASTI-PIANI--The--lady told me why you were here. The lady told me also that you were a member of the International Union for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic. ELFRIEDE--=That= I =am=! I =am= a member of the International Union for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic. But even if I did =not= belong to it I could not possibly have spared myself this search! For nine months I’ve been on the track of this unfortunate, and everywhere I’ve been so far she’d just been carried off to another city. But she is in this house! She’s here at this moment! The--lady who was here just now admitted that, without any beating round the bush. She promised me she would send the girl here to this room, so that I could speak with her in private and undisturbed. I am waiting here now for the girl, and for no one else. I have no desire and no need to go through a second cross-examination. CASTI-PIANI--I beg you, madam, not to excite yourself further. The girl felt she should present herself to you--respectably dressed. The lady asked me to tell you that, for she feared that in your agitation you might be tempted to take some needlessly violent measure. And she asked me to do what I could to help you through the embarrassment which waiting in these surroundings would naturally cause you. ELFRIEDE--[_Walking up and down._] Pray keep your amiable conversation to yourself! There is nothing new for me now in the atmosphere of this place. The first time I entered such a house, I had to fight physical nausea. Only then did I realize what tremendous self-suppression my entrance into the Union for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic had involved me in. Till then I had taken part in our activities as an idle pastime, solely to avoid growing old and gray in uselessness. CASTI-PIANI--This confession awakens in me so much sympathy that I feel tempted to ask you for your credentials as an active member of the International Union for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic. We know from experience that a lot of people crowd into that calling who have quite other ends in view than the rescue of fallen girls. If you are earnestly bent on attaining your high purposes, the strict precautions we are compelled to use will assuredly meet your approval. ELFRIEDE--I have been a member of our Union for nearly three years now. My name is--Fräulein von Malchus. CASTI-PIANI--Elfriede von Malchus? ELFRIEDE--Yes, Elfriede von Malchus.--How do you know my first name? CASTI-PIANI--Why, we read the annual reports of the Union. If I remember right, you were a distinguished speaker at last year’s annual meeting in Cologne?