Except," she added, "by a
sense of loathing which his presence inspires in me. But I must hurry.
If you interrupt me, I shall not have time.
"From that day in Cairo--oh! how can I tell you! I began the life of
an adventuress! I do not deny it. I came here to confess it to you. I
went to New York, to London, to Paris, to Petrograd; I went all over
the world. I had beautiful dresses, jewels, admiration--all that women
live for! And in the midst of it all mine was the life of the
cloister; no nun could be more secluded!
"I see the question in your eyes--why did I do it? Why did I lure men
into the clutches of Fo-Hi? For this is what I did; and when I have
failed, I have been punished."
Stuart shrank from her.
"You confess," he said hoarsely, "that you knowing lured men to
_death?"_
"Ah, no!" she whispered, looking about her fearfully--"never! never!
I swear it--never!"
"Then"--he stared at her blankly--"I do not understand you!"
"I dare not make it clearer--now: I dare not--dare not! But _believe_
me! Oh, please, please," she pleaded, her soft voice dropping to a
whisper--"believe me! If you know what I risked to tell you so much,
you would be more merciful. A horror which cannot be described"--again
she shuddered--"will fall upon me if _he_ ever suspects! You think me
young and full of life, with all the world before me. You do not know.
I am, literally, _already dead!_ Oh! I have followed a strange career.
I have danced in a Paris theatre and I have sold flowers in Rome; I
have had my box at the Opera and I have filled opium pipes in a den at
San Francisco! But never, never have I lured a man to his death.
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