Now it was Peter who put his hand on her arm and patted it and said,
"I didn't mean anything."

Mean what? Kedzie wondered. But she had no chance to find out, for
Peter rose from the table and, dodging around the dancing couples,
made his escape. He reappeared in the very nook where Kedzie watched,
and called up to Zada:

"Did they see me?"

Zada shook her head. Peter threw her a kiss. She threw him a shrug
of contempt. Peter went away laughing. Kedzie waited a few minutes
and saw that Mr. Devoe had come to sit with Zada.

After a moment the music was resumed, and Zada rose to dance again
with Mr. Devoe--a curious sort of dance, in which she lifted her feet
high and placed them carefully, as if she were walking on a floor
covered with eggs and didn't want to break any.

But Kedzie's eyes were filling with sand. They had gazed too long
at brilliance. She dashed back to the elevator and to her room.
She was exhausted, and she pulled off her clothes and let them lie
where they fell. She slid her weary frame between the sheets and
instantly slept.

* * * * *

Charity Coe danced till all hours with Jim, with Tom Duane and
other men, and no one could have fancied that she had ever known