She gave an inward sigh.... A little later she had made the desired introduction.... Presently, as Miss Upton moved away on Courtlandt's arm in the direction of her aunt and Sallie, she burst into a laugh, of whose loudness and acerbity she was equally unconscious.
Martha Dares, appearing at her side, arrested the laugh. Pauline grew promptly serious as she looked into Martha's homely face, with its little black eyes beaming above the fat cheeks and the unclassic nose, but not beaming by any means so merrily as when she had last given all its features her full heed.
"You don't laugh a bit as if you were pleased," said Martha, in her short, alert way. "I hope nothing has gone wrong."
"It seems to me as if everything were going wrong," returned Pauline, with a momentary burst of frankness which she at once regretted.
"Good gracious!" said Martha. "I'm astonished to hear you tell me so."
"Forget that I have told you so," said Pauline, throwing a little delicate repulsion into voice and mien. "By the way, your sister is not here to-night, Miss Dares."
Martha's plump figure receded a step or two.
"No," she replied, in the tone of one somewhat puzzled for a reply. "I came with my mother."
"And your sister had a headache."
"A headache," repeated Martha, showing what strongly resembled involuntary surprise.