Merkle broke out, impatiently:  “Make an end of it.  I’ll finance you.”  She laughed a little harshly.  “Don’t misunderstand me,” he went on, almost eagerly.  “Don’t think for an instant that I’d venture to expect anything in return.  I won’t trouble you; I won’t even see you.  Nobody will ever know.  I wouldn’t miss the money, and I’d really love to do it.  You tried to do me a favor—­”

“There’s no use arguing.”

“Well, don’t be stubborn or hasty.  You could use—­say, ten thousand dollars.  It would keep you going very nicely, and really it’s only the price of a new auto.”

“Why do you offer me so much?” she asked, curiously.

“Because I like you—­Oh, I mean ‘like,’ not ‘love’!  Because I think you’re a good sort and will need money to remain good.  You’re not an ordinary woman, Miss Knight; you can’t live as ordinary women live, now that you’re famous.  New York won’t let you.”

“You’re very kind and generous after all that has occurred and after knowing my reason for being here.”

“My dear child, you didn’t choose your family, and as for the other, the women of my set marry for money, just as you plan to do.  So do women everywhere, for that matter, and many of them make excellent wives—­yes, far better than if they had married poor men.  Few girls as beautiful as you in any walk of life are allowed to marry for love.  Trust me, a woman like you, if she lives up to the obligations of wifehood, deserves better than one who takes a man for love and then perhaps goes back on her bargain.  Will you accept my offer?”

“No.  But I thank you.”

“Think it over; there is no hurry, and remember I want to help.”  With one of his infrequent, wan smiles he extended his hand, and Lorelei grasped it warmly, though her face was set and strained.

She was far too well balanced for hasty resolutions, but her mind, once made up, was seldom changed.  It distressed her grievously to leave her people, but at the thought of remaining longer with them every instinct rebelled.  Her own kin, urged by greed, had not hesitated to cheapen and degrade her; their last offense, coupled with all that had gone before, was more than could be borne.  Yet she was less resentful than sad, for it seemed to her that this was the beginning of the end.  First the father had been crippled, then the moral fiber of the whole family had disintegrated until the mother had become a harpy, the brother a scamp, and she, Lorelei, a shameless hunter of men.  Now the home tie, that last bond of respectability, was to be broken.

Her first impulse was to take up her abode with Adoree Demorest, but a little thought showed the inadvisability of that.  In her doubt she appealed to Lilas, broaching the subject as the two girls were dressing after the performance.

“An apartment?” echoed the latter.  “Why, my building is full of them.  Who wants one?”

“I do.”