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imaginings of this repulsive lurid life rising before her eyes. At last she shook off the feeling of sickness it brought and addressed her thoughts to the necessity of escaping the mob. She let herself out the gate and stood listening with open mouth for the faintest rumour of a disturbance.

By this time night was come. She stood in the dark street trying to plan some course of action. Instinctively she turned away from the business part of town and began hurrying toward the outskirts; but after a little distance she reflected that every household within twenty miles had heard of her misfortune and not one family would take her in for the night. And yet she was afraid to turn back into Irontown again. She paused in suspense, listening intently. The only sound she heard was the faint faraway shriek of the evening train blowing for a crossing.

The eerie sound reminded the girl that she had not cashed her check and that it was impossible for her to buy a ticket on the train. This absolute necessity dispelled for a moment her fear of the mob. She turned and hurried townward again, hoping to get enough money from one of the smaller shops to pay her fare somewhere. She repassed the Biggers's home, a black mass outlined against a dark sky. In her conversation with Mrs. Roxie she had forgotten the check, the real reason why she had gone to the old woman. To enter the house again, after her ejection, was impossible. She would go to some out-of-the-way shop. But now at every step she took toward the centre of the village her fear of the mob mounted. It seemed to the girl that every tree along the street was the covert of some spy. She tried to walk silently, but her high heels would click. She peered into the darkness. Yet she wanted to hurry and catch the train which she could now hear murmuring in the south.

Then the old riddle confronted her again— where could she go? To what place could she turn to escape from her past? It seemed her only refuge was in a still more evil future.

Again the world of prostitutes limned itself before Nessie's