at was in the very air. He
talked more recklessly, once in a while with a bitterness not aimed at
any one in particular, which passed among the others as blase sarcasm
of one who had seen much and to whom even the fastest was slow.

But to Constance, as she tried to fathom him, it presented an entirely
different interpretation. For example, she asked herself, why had he
been so ready, apparently, to transfer his interest from Stella? Was it
because, having cut loose from the one feminine tie that morally bound
him, he no longer felt any restraint in cutting loose from others? Was
it the same spirit that had carried him on in the money game, having
cut loose from one financial principle, to let all go and to guide his
course as close to the edge of things as he dared? There had been the
same reckless bravado in the way he had urged on the driver of his car
in the wild ride of the earlier evening, violating the speed laws yet
succeeding in escaping the traffic squad.

Warrington was a plunger. Yet there was something about him that was
different from others she had seen. Perhaps it was that he had a
conscience, even though he had succeeded in detaching himself from it.

And Stella. There was something different about her, too. Constance
more than once was on the point of revising her estimate of the little
actress. Was she, after all, wholly mercenary in her attitude toward
Warrington? Was he merely a live spender whom she could not afford to
lose? Or was she merely a beautiful, delicate creature caught in the
merciless maelstrom of the life into which she had been thrown? Did she
realize the perilous position this all was placing her in?

They were among the last to leave and Vera and Braden offered to take
Constance to her apartment in Braden's car, while Stella contrived
prettily to take so much of Warrington's time with the wraps that by
the time they were ready to go the manner of the breaking up of the
party was as she wanted it. In her final triumph she could not help
just an extra inflection on, "I hope I'll see you again at Vera's soon,
my dear."

All night, or at least all that was left of it, Constance tried to
straighten out the whirl of her thoughts. With the morning she had an
idea. Now, in a moment when the exhilaration of the gay life was at low
ebb, she must see Stella.

It was early yet, but Stella was not at her hotel when Constance
cautiously called up the office to find out. Where was she? Const