I have told you the whole truth,
without trying either to conceal or justify anything. Listen to
my chastisement! On our arrival at Le Havre the next day, Arthur
confessed that he was greatly embarrassed financially. Owing to
our precipitate flight, he had not had time to realize the
property he possessed--at least so he told me--a banker, on whom
he had depended, had moreover failed him, and he had not
sufficient money to pay our passage to New York. This amazed me.
My education had been absurd, like that of most young girls in my
station. I knew nothing of real life, of its requirements and
difficulties. I knew, of course, that there were rich people and
poor people, that money was a necessity, and that those who did
not possess it would stoop to any meanness to obtain it. But all
this was not very clear in my mind, and I never suspected that a
few francs more or less would be a matter of vital importance. So
I was not in the least prepared for the request to which this
confession served as preface, and Arthur Gordon was obliged to ask
me point-blank if I did not happen to have some money about me, or
some jewelry which could be converted into money. I gave him all
I had, my purse containing a few louis, a ring and a necklace,
with a handsome diamond cross attached to it. However, the total
value was comparatively small, and such was Arthur's
disappointment that he made a remark which frightened me even
then, though I did not fully understand its shameful meaning until
afterward: 'A woman who repairs to a rendezvous should always have
all the valuables she possesses about her.
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