ess, in the latest creations of Paris modistes--gowns a
duchess might envy, hats that would tempt the virtue of a saint. All
were talking loudly, and laughing hilariously as they ate and drank,
while pale-faced, perspiring waiters ran here and there with steaming
chafing dishes and silver buckets of frozen "wine." Here champagne was
king! The frothy, golden, bubbling, hissing stuff seemed to be the only
beverage called for. No one counted the cost. Supplied with fat purses,
all flung themselves into a reckless orgy of high living and ordered
without reckoning. It was the gay rendezvous of the girls and the
Johnnies, the sporting men and the roues--in a word, the nightly
bacchanal of New York _qui s'amuse_. In the atmosphere, heavily charged
with tobacco smoke, floated a strange, indefinable perfume--an odor in
which the vulgar smell of cooking struggled for the mastery with the
subtle essences used by voluptuous women. Instantly, animalism was
aroused, the passions were inflamed. The mouth watered for luscious
_mets_ concocted by expensive _chefs_, the eye was dazzled by snowy
linen, glistening crystal and the significant smiles of red-lipped
wantons, the ear was entranced by the dulcet strains of sensuous music.
In short, a dangerous resort for any man, young or old.

It was the Flesh Market, the public mart, to which the frail sisterhood
came in droves to sell their beauty. The sirens of Manhattan, lineal
descendants of the legendary sisters who, with their songs, lured the
ancient mariners to their doom, were there by the hundred, decked out
in all the expensive finery that individual taste could suggest and
their purses pay for. They were of all types--blonde and brunette, tall
and petite, stout and slender--to meet every demand. Mostly young they
were; some still in their teens. That was the tragedy of it. Older
women had no place there.

Fresh arrivals poured in from the Broadway entrance. Everybody appeared
to be acquainted with everyone else; familiar greetings were exchanged
right and left. "Hello, Jack!" "Howdy, May!" "Sit down here, Grace!"
The waiters rushed away to fill orders for more wine, the orchestra
struck up another lively air, the whole establishment vibrated with
bustle and excitement.

The two young men watched the animated scene. To one of them at least,
it was all novel and strange, a phase of life to which, heretofore, he
had been a stranger. John Madison had seen little of gilded vice in the