ested in us," she said quickly. "Can't we drive
around a bit to throw him off if he should get into a cab?"

Warrington looked at her keenly. It was quite evident that he thought
it was Constance who was being followed, not Stella or himself.
Constance decided quickly to say nothing more that would prejudice
Stella, but as Warrington directed his driver to run up through the
park she saw that, far from alarming him, the words had only added a
zest of mystery about herself.

They left the Park and the car jolted them quickly now over the uneven
asphalt to the palace of pleasure, where already the two advance guards
were holding one of the best tables in a house crowded with all classes
from debutantes to debauchees.

"Diamond Jack" Braden was a heavy-set man with a debonnaire, dapper way
about him. He wore a flower in his buttonhole, a smart touch which
seemed very fetching, evidently, to the artistic Vera.

Constance fell to studying him, as she did all men and women. "His
hands betray him," she said to herself, as she was introduced.

They were in fact shielded from view as he bowed, one with the thumb
tucked in the corner of his trousers pocket, the other behind his back.

"He is hiding something," flashed through her mind intuitively. And,
when she analyzed it, she felt still that there was nothing fanciful
about the idea. It was simply a little unconscious piece of evidence.

From the start the cabaret was pretty rapid. When they entered, two of
the performers were rendering the Apache dance with an abandon that
improved on its namesake. Scarcely had they finished when the orchestra
began all over again, and a couple of diners from the tables glided
past them on the dancing floor, then another couple and another.

"Tanguez-vous?" bowed Braden, leaning over to Stella.

"Oui, je tanguerai," she nodded, catching the spirit of the place.

It left Warrington and Constance at the table with Vera, and as
Constance looked eagerly after the graceful form of the little actress,
Warrington asked, "Will you dance!"

"No, thank you," she said, trying him out. "I haven't had time to learn
these new steps. And, besides, I have had a bad day in the market.
Steel, Reading, everything is off. Not that I have lost much--but it's
what I haven't made."

Warrington, who had been about to repeat his question to Vera, turned
suddenly. This was something new to him, to meet a woman like
Constance. If she knew about other stocks