"I have had a long conversation with Ulpian, and find him violently opposed to the scheme you mentioned to me several days since. He declares he will gladly share his last dollar with you sooner than see you embark in a career so fraught with difficulties, trials, and--" Miss Jane paused to find an appropriate word, and Salome very promptly supplied her. "Temptations. That is exactly what you both mean. Go on." "Well, yes, dear. I am afraid the profession you have selected is beset with dangerous allurements for one so inexperienced and unsophisticated as yourself." "Bah! Speak out. I am sick of circumlocution. What do you understand by unsophisticated?" "Why, I mean,--well, what can I mean but just what the word expresses,--unsophisticated? That is, young, thoughtless, ignorant of the ways of the world, and the excessive cunning and deceit of human nature." "Begging your pardon, it has another significance, which you will find if you look into your dictionary,--that blessed Magna Charta of linguistic rights and privileges. I do not claim the prerogatives of Ruskin's class of the 'well educated, who are learned in the peerage of words; know the words of true descent and ancient blood at a glance, from words of modern _canaille_;' but I venture the assertion that I am sufficiently sophisticated to plunge into the vortex of public life, and yet keep my head above water." "I don't want to see my little girl an actress, or a _prima donna_, bold, forward, and eager to face a noisy, clamorous crowd, who feel privileged to say just what they please about her. It would break my heart; and, if you are bent on such a step, I hope you will wait, at least, till I am dead." "You ought to be willing to see me do anything honest, that will secure my dependent brother and sister from want." "The necessity of laboring for them is not especially imperative at this juncture, and why should you be more sensitive now than formerly? Do not deceive yourself, dear child, but face the truth, no matter how ugly it may possibly be. It is not a sense of duty to the younger children, but an inflated vanity, that prompts you to parade your beauty and your wonderful voice on the stage, where they will elicit applause and flattering adulation. My little girl, that is the most dangerous, the most unhealthy atmosphere, a woman can possibly breathe." "Pray tell me how you learned all this? You, who have spent your life in this quiet old house, who have been almost as secluded as some Cambrian Culdee, can really know nothing of that public life you condemn so bitterly." "The history of those who have walked in the path you are now preparing to follow, proves the deleterious influences and ruinous associations that surround that class of women." "Jenny Lind and Sarah Siddons redeem any class, no matter how much maligned." "But what assurance have I, that, unlike the ninety-nine, you will resemble the one-hundredth?" "Only try me, Miss Jane."