Page:The Tattooed Countess (1924).pdf/143

 To Davenport? Ella continued to play.

Yes, the river towns are. . . Lou was unable to finish this sentence.

I think I met Fred Baker once. . . somewhere. . . in a store. I was with Effie Chase. Is that. . . ?

Yes.

I liked him. He's all right. He would be all right anywhere else. Burlesque show! Davenport! A girl! The Countess laughed as her fingers moved skilfully over the keys. Don't you think, Lou, that you are a little censorious?

Well, Ella, the woman exasperated me. She called you a fallen woman, a Magdalene, and when her husband goes on like this, I think. ..

The Countess's natural good humour had all returned. Anywhere else, in any city, Fred Baker would be considered a virtuous man, high above the average. One girl and a burlesque show! Here he is damned. I wonder the men in this town don't go completely to the devil!

Some of them do. Lou was now highly excited. There's the Bohemian colony in the lower end of town. Some of the men visit girls there. O, I know. I've worked in the home for girls. I've heard their stories. Names have been mentioned. Then others visit the river towns. Some men who are not travelling men by profession go away and stay for days. ..

Lou, said the Countess, the narrow prejudices of