"This is Mrs. Dunlap," she said directly.
"Oh, how do you do, Mrs. Dunlap. I have been intending to call you up, but," he paused, and added, "you know we are having a pretty strenuous time down here."
There was a genuine ring to the first part of his reply. But the rest of it trailed off into the old blase tone.
"I'm sorry," she replied. "I enjoyed last night so much."
"Did you?" came back eagerly.
Before he could add anything she asked, "I suppose you are going to see Stella again this afternoon."
"Why—er—yes," he hesitated. "I think so."
"Where? At Vera's?" she asked, adopting a tone not of curiosity but of chiding him for seeing Stella instead of herself.
The moment of hesitation, before he said that he didn't know, told her the truth. It was as good as a plain, "Yes."
For a few moments they chatted. As she hung up the receiver after his deferential goodbye, Constance knew that she had gained a new angle from which to observe Warrington's character. He was intensely human and he was "in wrong." Here was a mess, all around.