Other press stories followed; the girl suddenly found herself notorious; scarcely a day passed without some disagreeable mention of her.  There was published a highly imaginative but circumstantial account of a weak-minded youth whom she had driven to suicide—­utterly false, of course, but difficult to deal with.  A Sunday “special” appeared—­one of those fantastic, colored-supplement nightmares—­in which she was pictured as a vampire with an angel’s face.  It was the hackneyed “moth and flame” story.  The page was luridly decorated with a swarm of entomological curiosities—­winged bipeds supposedly representing her fatuous admirers.  These fond victims of her enticements appeared to be badly singed and crippled.

Adoree Demorest, as indignant as Lorelei herself, declared finally that her friend must be the object of a premeditated attack directed by some strong hand, and once this suspicion had entered Lorelei’s mind it took root in spite of its seeming extravagance.  Her good sense argued that she was of too little consequence to warrant such an assault, but her relatives seized the suggestion so avidly as to more than half convince her.

Mrs. Knight attributed this injustice first to Bergman, then to Merkle, whom she hated bitterly since her unfortunate attempt at blackmail; Jim was inclined to agree with her.

“Money can do anything,” he stated, gloomily, “and these big guys amuse themselves by hunting beautiful women.  It’s a game with them.  When one of ’em takes a fancy to a girl she’s a goner.  It may not be Merkle in this case, but—­you’re the handsomest woman in New York, and I’ll bet some old spider is weaving his web for you.  When he has spoiled your good name and ruined your chances of marrying or of making an honest living he’ll creep out and show himself.  They frame innocent men for Sing Sing in this town, so why can’t they frame a girl for something else?”

Lorelei abhorred spiders; the picture of some evil-minded millionaire enmeshing her in a web of intrigue brought a sickening feeling of helplessness and apprehension.  Of course she thought the idea utterly fantastic, but Jim and her mother appeared to believe it, and her own notions of the city’s wickedness were so vivid that anything seemed possible.  Certainly some malign influence seemed to be deliberately at work against her, and a thousand disagreeable incidents, once she took time to reflect upon them, bore out her suspicions.  She was half minded to run away, but dared not.

Mrs. Knight, as always, ended her sympathetic reassurances by saying, “If you were only married, my dear, that would end all our troubles.”

The climax of these annoyances came one night after a party at which Lorelei had been presented to an old friend of Miss Lynn’s.  Lilas had introduced the man as one of her girlhood chums, and Lorelei had tried to be nice to him; then in some way he arranged to take her home.  The memory of that ride was a horror.