"You are very welcome here," Maggie replied. "Will you listen to the orchestra, or talk to me?"
"I will talk, if I may," he answered. "Lord Dorminster is not with you?"
"Nigel went to look up a friend whom he wants to bring to supper. He is one of those people who seem to discover friends and acquaintances in every quarter of the globe."
"And to that fortunate chance," her visitor continued, dropping his voice a little, "I owe the happiness of finding you alone."
Maggie glanced towards her aunt, who was leaning back in her seat.
"Aunt seems to be asleep, but she isn't," she declared. "She is really a very efficient chaperon. Talk to me about China, please, and tell me about your Dragon airship. Is it true that you have silver baths, and that Gauteron painted the walls of your dining salon?"
"One is in the air five days on the way over," he answered indifferently. "It is necessary that one's surroundings should be agreeable. Perhaps some day I may have the honour of showing it to you. In the darkness, and when she is docked, there is little to be seen."
She looked at him curiously.
"You knew that I was there, then?"
"Yours was the first face I saw when I descended from the car," he told her. "You stood apart, watching, and I wondered why. I knew, too, that you would be at the Ritz to-night. That is why I came there. As a rule, I do not dine in public."