80
first but of a sensual nature; and I am led to think his going abroad was only a fiction, the better to cover his base design of deserting her: be this as it mighty she had never since heard from him; and, as her little money was soon exhausted, she found herself alone and friendless, and now first began to reflect on the consequences of her imprudence. She had, on quitting the school, assumed the name of K———e, which I have recorded her by, in order to avoid the inquiries of her family; to whom shame and (perhaps false) delicacy, now deterred her from a thought of returning. In the late scenes of her guilty prosperity she had formed an acquaintance with several kept women who were living, like herself, in elegant infamy. She now had recourse to some of these friends for temporary assistance; but alas! they soon convinced her how little is to be expected from such friendship, when adversity renders it most essential. In a fatal moment she took the usual course of persons similarly situated; she procured a suitable lodging where her misfortunes, were not known, and frequented the theatres and other public places; at which (being a new face on the town), she was successful above all her competitors in attracting the notice of the male sex. The pecuniary emoluments she thence derived had enabled her to live elegantly; and her person and carriage were so much above the common class of Cyprians that she was still, at the time I first saw
