"Surely it is nothing dreadful."
"Dreadful enough! She thinks--it is as absurd as possible, but what does the world not believe--that you have made an assignation with me here!"
"An assignation; how so?" asked Lori, with a roguish smile.
Reising now held the trumps in his hand; he would not play the pink note yet.
"Why should she have left us alone?"
"Well, a brother and sister-in-law have surely much to say that is not meant for any third person. Is it not so?"
She offered him her hand, which he grasped warmly.
"But indeed, dear brother, what brings you here at this unwonted hour?"
"I expect a friend, a young doctor--you do not know him, but he seems to have left me in the lurch. But what brings you here, then, my sister?"
"I also have invited a friend to meet me."