Already his wits were at work.
Suddenly he asked her a blunt question.

"Has Anne come in yet ?" She answered him quite as bluntly, almost as if she had wished for his curt interrogation.

"No." He raised his brows for an instant, then in part reassured by her absolute composure, he merely commented: "She is late." Mona said nothing.

She turned her quiet eyes to the blaze before her.
There was not the faintest sign of agitation in her bearing.
"Do you know what she is doing ?" He asked the question slowly, half reluctantly it seemed.
Again she looked at him.

Clear and contemptuous, her eyes met his.
"Yes, I know." The words, the look, stabbed him with a swift suspicion.