"I will admit a little headache," she said; then she looked at the lovely indolent face. "You look well enough, Lenore!"
Lady Lenore smiled, curiously.
"Do you think so!" she answered. "Suppose I also confessed a headache!"
"I should outdo you even then," said the countess, with a sigh, "for I have a heartache!"
Lenore put out her hand, white and glittering with pearls and diamonds, and laid it on the elder woman's arm with a little caressing gesture peculiar to her.
"Tell me dear," she whispered.
The countess shook her head.
"I cannot," she said, with a sigh. "I scarcely know myself. I am quite in the dark, but I know that something has happened or is happening. You know that Leycester went suddenly yesterday?"
Lady Lenore moved her head in assent.
The countess sighed.