Her hostess turned quickly. She looked a long time at the young count. “Who is the other man near him?” she next asked.
Mollie was again her informant. “He is a Mr. Duval,” she explained. “He and the Count de Sonde are at the same hotel together.”
At this moment, Maud Warren, who had noted her father’s displeased look, decided to join the “Automobile Girls,” who were grouped around their hostess.
“Do you know,” she said with an air of triumph, “the Count de Sonde has invited Papa and me and the De Lancey Smythes to visit him at his chateau in France next summer?”
The tea-cup of their hostess crashed to the floor. It broke into small pieces.
“Don’t trouble to pick up the pieces,” she protested to Mr. Stuart. “Johann will do it. I am very careless. So you expect to visit France next summer?” she continued, turning her attention to Maud.
“Yes, Papa and I shall go,” Maud replied. “It would be quite novel to visit a chateau.”
“Delightful. But where is the chateau of the De Sonde family?” inquired the other young woman.
Maud hesitated. “I am not sure that I know,” she replied. “I believe the count said it was in Brittany. The count’s family is one of the oldest in France.”
“I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting the count,” suggested Maud’s hostess. “Perhaps you will present him to me.”