He faced her with a certain defiant jauntiness. "Why not?"
"Because I never saw you here before. I've tried often enough to get you to come—"
"Oh, to lunch or dine!" He sent a grimace about the room. "I never thought that was among my duties."
She did not take this up, and a moment's silence hung between them. Finally Manford said: "I came about Lita."
Pauline felt a rush of relief. Her husband's voice had been harsh and impatient: she saw that her arrival had mysteriously put him out. But if anxiety about Lita were the cause of his visit it not only explained his perturbation but showed his revived solicitude for herself. She sent back another benediction to the Inspirational Healer, so sweet it was to find that she and Dexter were once more moved by the same impulses.
"It's awfully kind of you, dear. How funny that we should meet on the same errand!"
He stared: "Why, have you—?"
"Come about Lita? Well, yes. She's been getting rather out of hand, hasn't she? Of course a divorce would kill poor Jim—otherwise I shouldn't so much mind—"
"A divorce?"
"Nona tells me it's Lita's idea. Foolish child! I'm to have a talk with her this afternoon. I came here first to see if Kitty's influence—"