"I haven't the slightest idea," said Eva, with apparent sincerity, and Herrick turned away without asking any other question.
Re-entering the room he quietly told the waiting Andrews that nothing had been seen of Mrs. Rose, nor had she been expected on that particular evening; and the young man thanked him dejectedly and moved to the door.
"It's a wretched night," said Herrick. "Won't you have a glass of something before you go?"
Andrews thanked him, but declined; and seeing he was anxious to be gone, Herrick did not press him, but let him depart without more ado.
He turned again into the sitting-room, meditating on this extraordinary disappearance; and a minute later his wife joined him, eager to hear the reason of Andrews' quest.
She came into the room wearing a satin kimono she had bought that day, her curly golden hair bound with a broad pink ribbon, her small, narrow foot thrust into satin slippers of the same hue.
At first sight it might have been a schoolgirl who stood there in the doorway. A second glance would have shown, to an acute observer, faint lines on brow and cheek, an indefinable hardness and sharpness of outline which destroyed the semblance of youth; and in its place gave an air of cynical maturity, which, reckoning by actual length of years, was as deceptive as the former illusion.
"Well?" She came further into the room and spoke interrogatively.
"Well?" Herrick turned to face her. "Mrs. Rose's disappearance is rather remarkable, don't you think?"
"Very." For the life of him Herrick could not fathom her tone. "But since Toni is a free agent and not a slave, I expect she's gone out on business of her own."