Before Miss Van Vetter could inquire what the "assessment" was, Stephen Elliott came in and the talk became general. An hour later, when Bartrow took his leave, Constance went to the door with him.
"Don't you really know where Mr. Jeffard is, Dick?" she asked.
Something in her tone set him upon the right track. "No; do you?"
"I know that he left Denver quite a while ago; about the time you were down last."
"How do you know it?"
"He told me he was going."
"The mischief he did! Where did you get acquainted with him?"
"At Mrs. Calmaine's."
Honest Dick ground his heel into the door-mat and thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his overcoat. What was in his mind came out shorn of euphemism.
"Say, Connie, do you care anything about him?"