"Then—I dare say you're close friends?"
"We're close enough—in that room; but scarcely friends. What did you get?"
He unrolled the package at his plate.
"A gold safety razor—evidently a warning not to play with edged tools.
I wonder if Miss Lynn bought one for Jarvis?"
"Now, why did you say that," Lorelei asked, quickly, "and why did you ask in that peculiar tone if she and I were friends?"
The man leaned closer, saying in a voice that did not carry above the clamor:
"I suppose you know she's making a fool of him? I suppose you realize what it means when a woman of her stamp gets a man with money in her power? You must know all there is to know from the outside; it occurred to me that you might also know something about the inside of the affair. Do you?"
"I'm afraid not. All I've heard is the common gossip."
"There's a good deal here that doesn't show on the surface. That woman is a menace to a great many people, of whom I happen to be one."
"You speak as if she were a dangerous character, and as if she had deliberately entangled him," Lorelei said, defendingly. "As a matter of fact, she did nothing of the sort; she avoided him as long as she could, but he forced his attentions upon her. He's a man who refuses defeat. He persisted, he persecuted her until she was forced to—accept him. Men of his wealth can do anything, you know. Sometimes I think—but it's none of my business."