Lucy and Jack Hodge were natural-born organizers of parties, and they had determined that Carmelita's farewell night in Paris would be something that would linger in her memory through many dull months of existence with the husband she did not love.
The party, having started with the Folies Bergere, had now attained midnight and one of the exclusive dance clubs on the Boulevard des Italiens catering especially to Americans' fat pocketbooks and their supposed love of jazz. However, the orchestra had at the moment subdued itself for a brief interval to the cadence of the waltz, and Carmelita was in the arms of Prince Rao-Singh. She loved to dance, and the Prince was an excellent partner. For the moment she forgot her subtle distrust of him and abandoned her emotions to the dreamy music and the seductive rhythm of the dance. Perhaps Rao-Singh was holding her a little too tightly. But she could not see the rather sinister possessive gleam in the Indian's eyes as, for instance, Dudley Drake from his place at Lucy's table could see it.
