He glanced across at Louisiana with an anxious face.
"Yes," she said, "I am going home."
"To New York?"
"I do not live in New York."
She spoke quite simply, but the words were a shock to him. They embarrassed him. There was no coldness in her manner, no displeasure in her tone, but, of course, he understood that it would be worse than tactless to inquire further. Was it possible that she did not care that he should know where she lived? There seemed no other construction to be placed upon her words. He flushed a little, and for a few minutes looked rather gloomy, though he quickly recovered himself afterward and changed the subject with creditable readiness.
"Did not you tell me she lived in New York?" he asked Olivia, the first time they were alone together.
"No," Olivia answered, a trifle sharply. "Why New York, more than another place?"
"For no reason whatever,—really," he returned, more bewildered than ever. "There was no reason why I should choose New York, only when I spoke to her of certain places there, she—she——"
He paused and thought the matter over carefully before finishing his sentence. He ended it at last in a singular manner.
"She said nothing," he said. "It is actually true—now I think of it—she said nothing whatever!"