"That was a long visit you made at the château, my old one?"
"Madame la comtesse is well informed," Lanyard returned, phlegmatic.
"One hears what one hears."
"One had the misfortune to fall foul of an assassin," Lanyard took the trouble to explain.
"An assassin!"
"The same Apache who attacked--with others--the party from Montalais at Montpellier-le-Vieux."
"And you were wounded?"
Lanyard assented. The lady made a shocked face and uttered appropriate noises. "As you know," Lanyard added.
Liane Delorme pretended not to hear that last. "And the ladies of the château," she enquired--"they were sympathetic, one feels sure?"
"They were most kind."