it for me."

She glanced dubiously round the now almost deserted room; and a waiter
started forward as if animated by a spring. Anisty motioned him imperiously
back. "Go on," he coaxed; "no one can see." And watched, flattered, the
slim white fingers that extracted a match from the stand and drew it
swiftly down the prepared surface of the box, holding the flickering flame
to the end of a white tube whose tip lay between lips curved, scarlet, and
pouting.

There! A pale wraith of smoke floated away on the fan-churned air, and
Anisty was vaguely conscious of receiving the glowing cigarette from a hand
whose sheer perfection was but enhanced by the ripe curves of a rounded
forearm.... He inhaled deeply, with satisfaction.

Undetected by him, the girl swiftly passed a furtive handkerchief across
her lips. When he looked again she was smiling and the golden case had
disappeared.

She shook her head at him in mock reproval. "Bold man!" she called him; but
the crudity of it was lost upon him, as she had believed it would be. The
moment had come for vigorous measures, she felt, guile having paved the
way.

"Why do you call me that?"

"To appear so openly, running the gauntlet of the detectives...."

"Eh?"--startled.