There was an air of bonhomie as Bella presented them to Constance--a stocky, red-faced man with a wide chest and narrow waist, Ross Watson; a tall, sloping-shouldered man who inclined his head forward earnestly when he talked to a lady and spoke with animation, Haddon Halsey; and a fair-haired, baby-blue eyed little woman gowned in becoming pink, Mrs.Lansing Noble.
"Now we're all here--just enough for a game," remarked Bella in a business-like tone.

"Oh, I beg pardon--you play, Mrs.Dunlap ?" she added to Constance.
"Oh, yes," Constance replied.

"Almost anything--a little bit." She had already noted that the chief object in the room, after all, appeared to be a round table.

About it the guests seemed naturally to take their places.
"What shall it be to-night--bridge ?" asked Watson, nonchalantly fingering a little pack of gilt-edged cards which Bella had produced.
"Oh, no," cried Mrs.Noble.

"Bridge is such a bore." "Rum ?" "No--no.