"Aren't you every one except Cousin Charles? Robert told me just now that Virginia is beginning to boil over. He believes the country will force the President's hand. Oh, I wonder if the world will ever be sane and safe again?"
He was watching her so closely that he appeared to be drinking in the sound of her voice and the sight of her loveliness; yet never for an instant did he lose the feeling that she was as ephemeral as a tinted cloud or a perfume.
"Angelica," he said abruptly, "Mary has just told me that she has broken her engagement to Alan."
Tiny sparks leaped to her eyes. "Well, I suppose they wouldn't have been happy together——"
"Do you know why she did it?"
"Do I know why?" She looked at him inquiringly. "How could I know? She has not told me."
"Has Alan said anything to you about it?"
"Why, yes, he told me that she had broken it."
"And did he tell you why?"
She was becoming irritated by the cross examination. "No, why should he tell me? It is their affair, isn't it? Now, if that is all, I must go. Alan has brought the first act of a new play, and he wants my opinion."