"You are well aware that she is not here," Pauline said.
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"I think so."
"But perhaps you may be mistaken. Perhaps you have merely fancied that I have noticed Miss Cora's non-appearance."
"Perhaps," Pauline repeated. She seemed to be saying the word to her own thoughts. But suddenly her manner became far less absent. "Mrs. Dares told me that Miss Cora had a headache to-night," she said, with brisk activity. "We can all have headaches, you know," she went on, "when we choose."
Kindelon nodded slowly. "I have heard that it is an accommodating malady," he said, in tones that were singularly lifeless and neutral.
Pauline put forth her hand, and let it rest on his broad, strong arm for a second or two.
"Did Miss Cora have a headache?" she asked.
He threw back his head, and shook it with a sudden sound of his breath which resembled a sigh of irritation, and yet was not quite that.
"Upon my word, I don't know!" he cried softly.