d she never looked so well as
when she sang; it sent warmth into her lips and took the hardness from
her face. But the lady with whom he became involved in a scrape, with
the attendant litigation, payment of damages, danger of publicity and
total ruin of reputation in the exclusive places where his character was
respected and his judgment esteemed, was in every respect different from
the lady of burlesque opera. Bitterly did he regret his follies, for the
facts were given to a newspaper famous for its sensations, and the great
_litterateur_ was compelled literally to go down on his marrow bones to
induce the editor to withhold the particulars of his seduction of the
lady from publication. The sword of Damocles was suspended for weeks,
during which the high-toned censor's condition was sometimes pitiable to
see. His entreaties finally carried the point, and the case became one
of those scandals of the existence of which the public never dreams.

CHAPTER XIV.

PROCURESSES AND THEIR VICTIMS.

_Clandestine Meetings at Seemingly Respectable Resorts--The
"Introduction House."_

The revelations not long since published in the London _Pall Mall
Gazette_ revealed fashionable aristocratic depravity in the British
metropolis in a shamefully disreputable light, and disclosed the
services of the professional procuress in all their repulsive
loathsomeness. Although we do not possess titled libertines at elegant
leisure here, there can be no manner of doubt that the procuress plies
her vocation among us, and thrives on a liberally perennial patronage.
Whatever may be her characteristics in other respects, she is invariably
an elegantly-dressed woman, with persuasive address, suave speech and
attractive mien. In most cases procuresses possess houses of their own,
where they procure desirable ladies for their patrons. Sometimes these
establishments are termed "Introducing houses," and, as may be imagined,
are exceedingly lucrative to their proprietors. Sometimes ladies are
boarded and lodged in the house; but they are usually "independent," or,
in other words, living under the protection of some patron of the
establishment. Some of these procuresses possess a list of ladies whom
they can send a messenger for on demand. Take the case of a well-known
establishment in one of the most fashionable quarters up-town, for
example:

A wealthy broker, speculator, or attache of Uncle Sam, calls upon the
lady of the house at a fashionable