"You are lunching here?" he asked.
"With the Servian Minister's wife. I shall excuse myself early. It is a vital necessity that we talk for a few minutes before you leave here. Five minutes ago I sent a note to your rooms."
"I shall be at your service," Julien replied slowly.
"I shall expect you in the morning," Madame Christophor said, smiling at Lady Anne. "Don't be later than ten o'clock. I am always at home after four, Duchess, if you are spending any time in Paris," she added.
They watched her as she passed to the little group who were awaiting her arrival. She was certainly one of the most elegant women in the room. Lady Anne looked after her with a faint frown.
"I wonder," she murmured, "if I shall like Madame Christophor?"
"I had no idea, Julien," the Duchess remarked, "that you were friendly with her."
Julien evaded the question.
"At any rate," he said, turning to Anne, "this will be better for you than making bows."
"I suppose so," she assented. "All the same, I am very much my own mistress in that dusty little workshop. If Madame Christophor—isn't that the name she chooses to be called by?—becomes exacting, I am not even sure that I shan't regret my bow-making."