an with the pillows
disarranged as they had been when she left. The furniture was in the
same position as before. Hastily she went from one room to another.
Florence had disappeared!

She went to the door again. All seemed right there. If any one had
entered, it must have been because he was admitted, for there were no
marks to indicate that the lock had been forced.

She called up the tea room. Mrs. Palmer was very sympathetic, but there
had been no trace of "Viola Cole" there yet.

"You will let me know if you get any word?" asked Constance anxiously.

"Surely," came back Mrs. Palmer's cordial reply.

A hundred dire possibilities crowded through her mind. Might Florence
be held somewhere as a "white slave"--not by physical force but by
circumstances, ignorant of her rights, afraid to break away again?

Or was it suicide, as she had threatened? She could not believe it.
Nothing could have happened in such a short time to change her
resolution about revenge.

The recollection of all the stories she had read recently crossed her
mind. Could it be a case of drugs? The girl had given no evidence of
being a "dope" fiend.

Perhaps some one had entered, after all.

She thought of the so-called "poisoned needle" cases. Might she not
have been spirited off in that way? Constance had doubted the stories.
She knew that almost any doctor would say that it was impossible to
inject a narcotic by a sudden jab of a hypodermic syringe. That was
rather a slow, careful and deliberate operation, to be submitted to
with patience.

Yet Florence was gone!

Suddenly it flashed over Constance that Drummond might not be seeking
the reward primarily, after all. His first object might be shielding
Preston. She recollected that Mr. Gibbons had said nothing about
Drummond, either one way or the other. And if he were both shielding
Preston and working for the reward, he would care little how much
Florence suffered. He might be playing both ends to serve himself.

She rang the elevator bell.

"Has anybody called at my apartment while I was out?" she asked.

"Yes'm. A man came here."

"And you let him up?"

"I didn't know you were out. You see I had just come on. He said he was
to meet some one at your apartment. And when he pressed the buzzer, the
door opened, and I ran the elevator down again. I thought it was all
right, ma'am."

"And then what?" inquired Constance breathlessly.

"Well, in about five minutes my bell rang. I r