The wind was bitter and he went into the lobby, where a few men were
hurrying out to secure their carriages. Then at last came the crowd in
evening dress, and it seemed to him that the acuteness of his perception
was reinforced by an almost unnatural power of vision. Out of the moving
throng the face of each woman stood forth distinctly as if relieved by a
spectral illumination; and he saw them clearly one after one, fair or
dark, plain or beautiful, until from among them there shone toward him
the elaborately arranged blonde head of Connie, under a winking diamond
which shed over her an unbecoming light. He had hoped to the last that
she would be with several others, but he perceived when she came out at
Brady's side, with her babyish chin tilted upward and her thin features
working in a forced and unhealthy animation, that they were alone and
would probably be alone for the remainder of the evening.

Standing beyond the entrance, and watching her unseen, while she paused
for an instant in the crowded lobby, Adams felt again the strange stir
of emotion he had experienced when he looked at her the evening before
under the lamplight in his study. In a single vivid instant he saw her
winking diamonds, her rouged cheeks, the nervous flutter that shook her
fragile figure, and the consuming fire which was destroying the
appealing prettiness of her face. Then he looked deeper still to the
naked terrified soul of her, caught in a web from which, because of her
weakness, there could be no escape.

There was no room in his heart now for any other feeling than one of
agonised compassion, and as she came through the doorway he touched her
arm and spoke in a voice which had the sound of a caress. "I've just had
bad news, Connie, so I came to find you."

She started violently, her hand dropped from her companion's arm, and