s victims of bad luck. Now and then the old woman would call
us a miserable lot of wretches she was pestered to take care of. At one
time there were in this den of wretchedness fifteen girls from seven to
eleven years old, and seven boys under eleven--all being initiated into
the by-ways of vice and crime. Among the girls were Italians, Germans,
Irish, and--shall I say it?--Americans! It was curious to see what means
the old hag would resort to for the purpose of improving their features
after they had arrived at a certain age. She had a purpose in this; and
that purpose sprang from that traffic in depravity caused by the demands
of a depraved society, a theme on her lips continually."

CHAPTER X.

A CONTINUATION OF GEORGE MULLHOLLAND'S HISTORY.

"Having served well the offices of felons and impostors, Hag Zogbaum
would instruct her girls in the mysteries of licentiousness. When they
reached a certain age, their personal appearance was improved, and one
by one they were passed into the hands of splendidly-dressed ladies, as
we then took them to be, who paid a sum for them to Hag Zogbaum, and
took them away; and that was the last we saw of them. They had no desire
to remain in their miserable abode, and were only too glad to get away
from it. In most cases they were homeless and neglected orphans; and
knowing no better condition, fell easy victims to the snares set for
them.

"It was in this dark, cavern-like den--in this mysterious caldron of
precocious depravity, rioting unheeded in the very centre of a great
city, whose boasted wealth and civilization it might put to shame, if
indeed it were capable of shame, I first met the child of beauty, Anna
Bonard. Yes!--the Anna Bonard you now see at the house of Madame
Flamingo. At that time she was but seven years old--a child of uncommon
beauty and aptness, of delicate but well-proportioned features, of
middle stature, and a face that care might have made charming beyond
comparison. But vice hardens, corrodes, and gives a false hue to the
features. Anna said she was an orphan. How far this was true I know
not. A mystery shrouded the way in which she fell into the hands of Hag
Zogbaum. Hag Zogbaum said she got her of an apple-woman; and the
apple-woman kept a stand in West street, but never would disclose how
she came by Anna. And Mr. Tom Toddleworth, who was the chronicle of the
Points, and used to look into 'Scorpion Cove' now and then, and inquire
about Anna, a