"Why did you go on the stage? Did you always like it?"
And Leone answered, gravely:
"A great sorrow drove me there."
"A great sorrow? How strange! What sorrow could come to one so beautiful, so gifted as you?"
"A sorrow that crushed all the natural life in me," said Leone; "but we will not speak of it. I live more in my life on the stage than in my home life; that is desolate always."
She spoke unconsciously, and the heart of the fair woman who believed herself so entirely beloved warmed with pity and kindness to the one whose heart was so desolate.
"A great sorrow taught you to find comfort in an artificial life," she said, gently; "it would not do that to me."
And her white hand, on which the wedding-ring shone, caressed the beautiful white arm of Madame Vanira.
"What would it do to you?" asked Leone, slightly startled.
"A really great trouble," replied Lady Chandos, musingly, "what would it do for me? Kill me. I have known so little of it; I cannot indeed remember what could be called trouble."