ate and love are equally to be dreaded. There was
upon her face the unmistakable traces of a ruined virtue and a vanished
innocence. Her slightest action suggested her profession; as soon as she
removed her veil and gloves it was as though she were partially
undressed, and her uncovered face and hands seemed to be only portions
of her nudity.

The general conception of women of her class is a painted and broken
wreck. Flossie radiated health; her eyes were clear, her nerves steady,
her flesh hard and even as a child's. There hung about her an air of
cleanliness, of freshness, of good nature, of fine, high spirits, while
with every movement she exhaled a delicious perfume that was not only
musk, but that seemed to come alike from her dress, her hair, her neck,
her very flesh and body.

Vandover was no longer the same as he had been during his college days.
He was familiar now with this odour of abandoned women, this foul sweet
savour of the great city's vice, that quickened his breath and that sent
his heart knocking at his throat. It was the sensitive artist nature in
him that responded instantly to anything sensuously attractive. Each
kind and class of beautiful women could arouse in Vandover passions of
equal force, though of far different kind. Turner Ravis influenced him
upon his best side, calling out in him all that was cleanest, finest,
and most delicate. Flossie appealed only to the animal and the beast in
him, the evil, hideous brute that made instant answer.

"What will you take, Flossie?" asked Vandover, as she settled herself
among them. "We are all drinking beer except Ellis. He's filling up with
whisky." But Flossie never drank. It was one of the peculiarities for
which she was well known.

"I don't want either," she answered, and turning to the waiter, she
added, "You can bring me some Apollinaris water, Toby."

Flossie betrayed herself as soon as she spoke, the effect of her
appearance was spoiled. Her voice was hoarse, a low-pitched rasp, husky,
throaty, and full of brutal, vulgar modulations.

"Smoke, Flossie?" said Geary, pushing his cigarette case across to her.
Flossie took a cigarette, rolled it to make it loose, and smoked it
while she told them how she had once tried to draw up the smoke through
her nose as it came out between her lips.

"And honestly, boys," she growled, "it made me that sick that I just had
to go to bed."

"Who is the crowd out back?" asked Geary for the sake of saying