"I am so glad that you came, Mademoiselle," he said to Ann, "but you are late. Madame my mother has left her place at the door of the ball-room, but we shall find her later."
He took them to the cloak-room, and coming away they were joined by Espinosa.
"You are going to dance now?" Michel Le Vay asked. "No, not yet! Then Señor Espinosa will take you to the buffet while I look after others of our guests."
He hurried away towards the ball-room, where a clatter of high voices competed with the music of the band. Espinosa conducted the two ladies to the buffet. There was hardly anybody in the room.
"We are still too early," said Jeanne Leclerc in a low voice. "We shall take some coffee."
But Ann would not. Her eyes were on the door, her feet danced, her hands could not keep still. Was the letter a trick? Would she, indeed, within the next few minutes learn the truth? At one moment her heart sank into her shoes, at another it soared.
"Mademoiselle, you neglect your coffee," said Espinosa urgently. "And it is good."
"No doubt," Ann replied. She turned to Jeanne Leclerc. "You will send me home, won't you? I shall not wait—afterwards."
"But of course," Jeanne Leclerc agreed. "All that is arranged. The chauffeur has his orders. You will take your coffee, dear?"
Again Ann would not