"You come this way,
please. Some ladies call upon me this evening, and I do not want to
frighten them."
"No," said Kerry, "you wouldn't, naturally." He stood aside as a door
at the further end of the room was opened. "After you, my friend. I
said 'lead the way.'"
They mounted to the third floor of the restaurant. The room which they
had just quitted was used as an auxiliary dining and supper-room
before midnight, as Kerry knew. After midnight the centre table was
unmasked, and from thence onward to dawn, sometimes, was surrounded by
roulette players. The third floor he had never visited, but he had a
shrewd idea that it was not entirely reserved for the private use of
the proprietor.
A babel of voices died away as the two men walked into a room rather
smaller than that below and furnished with little tables, cafe
fashion. At one end was a grand piano and a platform before which a
velvet curtain was draped. Some twenty people, men and women, were in
the place, standing looking towards the entrance. Most of the men and
all the women but one were in evening dress; but despite this common
armor of respectability, they did not all belong to respectable
society.
Two of the women Kerry recognized as bearers of titles, and one was
familiar to him as a screen-beauty.
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