Then the simple, innate truth of Leone's disposition came uppermost. With the most dignified manner she returned the bow that Lord Chandos made.
"I have had the pleasure of meeting Lord Chandos before," she said.
And Lady Marion looked at her husband in reproachful wonder.
"And you never told me," she said. "Knowing my great admiration for Madame Vanira, you did not tell me."
"Where was it, madame?" he asked, looking at her with an air of helpless, hopeless entreaty.
Then she bethought herself that perhaps those few words might cause unpleasantness between husband and wife, and she tried to make little of them.
"I was at the French Embassy here in London, Lord Chandos, at the same time you were," she said.
And Lady Marion was quite satisfied with the explanation, which was perfectly true.
Then they talked for a few minutes, at the end of which Lady Chandos was claimed by her hostess for a series of introductions.
Lord Chandos and Leone were left alone.