"You, madam!" she said, sincerely surprised.
The Countess gave her a veiled glance.
"I am taking my departure, madam. I had a fancy to come in, but it is too late to stay."
She lifted the heavy skirt off the twinkling paste on her shoes; certainly the most composed of the three.
"I sang to Captain Lyndwood!" actually she laughed; "and he never commended it! What are our gallants coming to? Good-night, madam; au revoir, sir."
She curtsied and was gone.
Miss Chressham stared at her cousin.
"What is this, Marius? she has not been here for months; and the hour and the manner of her leaving!"
"I do not know anything of it," said Marius shortly.