"So the news of that absurd affair reached you, Cleone?"
She laughed, clenching her teeth.
"Oh, yes, sir! It reached me. A pity, was it not?"
"A great pity, Cleone, if on that gossip you judge me."
"Ah! There was no truth in the tale?" Suppressed eagerness was in her voice.
"I will be frank with you. A certain measure of truth there was. M. de Foli-Martin thought himself injured. It was not so."
"And why should he think so, sir?"
"Presumably because I paid court to madame, his wife."
"Yes?" Cleone spoke gently, dangerously. "You paid court to madame. No doubt she was very lovely?"
"Very." Philip was nettled.