"I am so pleased to meet you," she continued, with what was unusual animation with her. "I have longed to see you off the stage."
Leone smiled in the fair face.
"I can only hope," she said, "that you will like me as well off the stage as you do on."
"I am sure of that," said Lady Chandos, with charming frankness.
She admired the beautiful and gifted singer more than she cared to say. She added, timidly:
"Now that I have met you here, madame, I shall hope for the pleasure and honor of receiving you at my own house."
She wondered why Madame Vanira drew back with a slight start: it seemed so strange to be asked into the house that she believed to be her own.
"I shall be delighted," continued Lady Chandos. "I give a ball on Wednesday week; promise me that you will come."
"I will promise you to think of it," she replied, and Lady Chandos laughed blithely.
"That means you will come," she said, and the next moment Lord Chandos entered the room.