“With thoughts of revenge and the anticipation of an increased bank account, I began the search for a candidate for the position of mistress to my enemy’s friend. It did not take me long. I was on the train one day, when I met a young girl, beautiful, graceful, fresh, but sad. My practical eye soon sized up the situation and I made friends with her. She explained to me that she was coming to Chicago to seek a position. Then, slowly, but as surely as the snake coils itself around the helpless, bleating kid, so did I spin my web of Hell around her. ‘Now,’ I said, after I had made all arrangements, ‘I don’t want to know your real name, for I don’t like to lie if anyone should ask for you.’ “Ha, ha! Only think of it, sir! I was too good to lie!” The wild glitter of the black eyes made me think of a snake, as the woman writhed and twisted and uttered her maniacal screeches. “Well, I brought her in, as the saying goes. I took her to the dressmaker’s and in a week’s time she was ready to show. I notified the man. That night the scenes of revelry and debauchery outdid all former efforts. Men and women sang and danced, wine flowed and money was spent in the most reckless manner. The little girl easily outclassed all others. The wine soon caused her to cast aside her modesty, which was a part of her, and she was the merriest one of the lot. It was three o’clock when I assisted the man to undress her and put her into the best bed in the house, then I left for my own room. Night after night these scenes followed. Great was my glee when a carriage would come down the street and boldly drive up to the door. I was so delighted that I became bold and proceeded to return some of my now unpopular neighbor’s taunts and jeers. It was no uncommon thing for men to bring strange women to my place, so I was not surprised when, one evening about nine o’clock, I saw a veiled woman alight from a carriage and come to my door. The maid announced, ‘A lady to see you, madame.’ I went forward, and just as I pulled the door open a hand shot out from under the long cape and I felt a blinding, burning sensation spread over my face. I ran inside. Everything that was convenient was applied, and when the doctor came he told me it was acid. That is how I got the scars. I went to the hospital. The little girl came to see me daily. She spent as much time with me as the nurses would allow and in that way we became deeply attached to each other. I put her in charge of my affairs, and by her sweet ways she won the esteem and admiration of all the girls. We had little trouble in tracing the acid thrower. Next morning after it occurred my unfriendly neighbor was found dead in her room. A note pinned to her pillow told all. She had done me, then drank poison. “I recovered; that is, so far as you can see, but I was too badly disfigured for publicity, so I left my entire place in the hands of the little girl and opened a home for women during confinement.