She paid it and tipped him with prodigality
which for a woman was almost reckless. Then she ordered coffee, and
after a second's hesitation cigarettes. Why not? Nearly all the women
were smoking, and she desired to pass for the moment as one of them. For
the first time she ventured to gaze at her neighbor.
It was the young lady from Vienna. She was dressed in a wonderful
demi-toilette of white lace, and she wore a large picture hat adjusted
at exactly the right angle for her profile. From her throat and bosom
there flashed the sparkle of many gems--the finger which held her
cigarette was ablaze with diamonds. She leaned back in her seat smoking
lazily, and she met Phyllis's furtive gaze with almost insolent
coldness. But a moment later, when Monsieur Albert's back was turned,
she leaned forward and addressed her rapidly.
"A man will come here," she said, "who could tell you, if he was
willing, all that you seek to know. He will come to-night--he comes all
the nights. You will see I hold my handkerchief so in my right hand.
When he comes I shall drop it--so!"
The girl's swift speech, her half-fearful glances towards the door,
puzzled Phyllis.
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