"No. But I thank you."

"Think it over; there is no hurry, and remember I want to help."
With one of his infrequent, wan smiles he extended his hand, and
Lorelei grasped it warmly, though her face was set and strained.

She was far too well balanced for hasty resolutions, but her mind,
once made up, was seldom changed. It distressed her grievously to
leave her people, but at the thought of remaining longer with them
every instinct rebelled. Her own kin, urged by greed, had not
hesitated to cheapen and degrade her; their last offense, coupled
with all that had gone before, was more than could be borne. Yet
she was less resentful than sad, for it seemed to her that this
was the beginning of the end. First the father had been crippled,
then the moral fiber of the whole family had disintegrated until
the mother had become a harpy, the brother a scamp, and she,
Lorelei, a shameless hunter of men. Now the home tie, that last
bond of respectability, was to be broken.

Her first impulse was to take up her abode with Adoree Demorest,
but a little thought showed the inadvisability of that. In her
doubt she appealed to Lilas, broaching the subject as the two
girls were dressing after the performance.

"An apartment?" echoed the latter. "Why, my building is full of
them. Who wants one?"

"I do."