"Why?"
He evaded the question: "When I came back to the glade the dancing was already over; so I got Kathleen and Naïda to save a table."
"Where had you been all the while?"
"If you really wish to know," he said pleasantly, "I was talking to Jack Dysart on some rather important matters. I did not realise how the time went."
She sat mute, head lowered, staring out across the dark water. Presently he laid one hand over hers, and she straightened up with a tiny shock, turned and looked him full in the eyes.
"I'll tell you why you failed me—failed to keep the first appointment I ever asked of you. It was because you were so preoccupied with a mask in flame colour."
He thought a moment:
"Did you believe you saw me with somebody in a vermilion costume?"
"Yes; I did see you. It was too late for me to retire without attracting your attention. I was not a willing eavesdropper."
"Who was the girl you thought you saw me with?"