"Do you believe that most women would have acted the same?"
"No," he said, with a quick, slight laugh, "because most women have neither your brains nor your independence."
"And you like both in a woman?"
"I like both in you," he said, lowering his handsome head a little as he uttered the words.
"Do you think Cora Dares would have acted as I have done?" Pauline asked.
He made an impatient gesture; he appeared for a moment distressed and embarrassed.
"You and Cora Dares are—are not the same," he said, almost stammeringly.
"Oh, I know that very well," answered Pauline. "I have had very good reason to know that we are not the same. We are extremely different. By the way, she is not here to-night."
"Not here?" he repeated interrogatively, but with a suggestion of drolly helpless duplicity.
Pauline raised one finger, shaking it at him for an instant and no more. The gesture, transient as it was, seemed to convey a world of significance. No doubt Kindelon tacitly admitted this, though his face preserved both its ordinary color and composure.