“When?”
“This evening at the end of the Cinderella. You knew we were giving a dance?”
“But where to?”
“Oh! Precisely!” Jervaise said.
“But how extraordinary!” replied Miss Banks.
“Is she here?” asked Jervaise. He ought to have snapped that out viciously, and I believe that was his intention. But Anne’s exquisitely innocent, absorbed gaze undid him; and his question had rather the sound of an apology.
“No, certainly not! Why ever should she come here?” Anne said with precisely the right nuance of surprise.
“Is your brother here?”
“No!”
It looks such an absurd little inexpressive word on paper, but Anne made a song of it on two notes, combining astonishment with a sincerity that was absolutely final. If, after that, Jervaise had dared to say, “Are you sure?” I believe I should have kicked him.