The result was the same as usual. Reginald signed the deed, without even taking the trouble to study its full bearing.
"Have you seen Paulina lately?" he asked, afterwards.
"Not very lately."
"I don't know what's amiss with her," exclaimed Reginald, peevishly; "she has not written to me to ask explanation of my absence and silence."
"Perhaps she grew tired of writing to a person who valued her letters so lightly."
"I was glad enough to hear from her," answered Reginald; "but I could not be expected to find time to answer all her letters. Women have nothing better to do than to scribble long epistles."
"Perhaps Madame Durski has found some one who will take the trouble to answer her letters," said Victor.
After this, the two men parted, and Reginald Eversleigh called a cab, in which he drove down to Hilton House.
He might have stayed away much longer, in self-interested obedience to Carrington, had he been sure of Paulina's unabated devotion; but he was piqued by her silence, and he wanted to discover whether there was a rival in the field.
He knew Madame Durski's habits, and that it was not till late in the afternoon that she was to be seen.