"Queer time for business—nine o'clock on a foggy night," Herrick reminded her quietly.
"Well, I daresay she got fed up with the house—and the weather—and went off to London for a spree." Eva laughed rather hardly. "A theatre would be a blessed relief after the dulness of this place."
"She would not be likely to go alone."
"Oh, I daresay she would pick up some man to go with."
"Don't speak like that, Eva, please. Mrs. Rose is not the sort of girl to 'pick up' anybody."
"Oh, isn't she?" Eva laughed again. "Your precious Toni isn't a saint, you know. Because her husband is a fool and neglects her, that doesn't say Toni is too meek and mild to have friends of her own."
Herrick turned to her angrily.
"Look here, Eva, I won't have you insinuating such things. Mrs. Rose may not be a saint—I never met one, by the way—but she is a thoroughly straight girl; and any friends she might make would be lucky fellows, I can tell you."
Eva smiled rather scornfully.
"Even you are taken in by her big eyes and her quiet ways. Well, you'll all of you get a surprise one of these days, when you find that Toni is as wide-awake as anybody else, and knows a thing or two you don't suspect her of."