"I am making you dine late," she said in a tone of apology. Then, with a touch of malice, and looking up at Thomery from under her eyes, to see how he took it:
"You are to be rewarded for having to wait!... I have invited Princess Sonia Danidoff to dine with you!"
Thomery started. He frowned. He again seated himself beside the Baroness:
"You have invited her?..."
"Yes ... and why not?... I believe this pretty woman is one of your special friends... that you consider her the most charming of all your friends now!..."
Thomery did not take up the challenge: he simply said:
"I had an idea that the Princess was not much to your taste!"
The eyes of Madame de Vibray flashed a sad, strange look on her old friend, as she said gently:
"One can accustom oneself to anything and everything, my dear friend.... Besides, I quite recognise that the Princess deserves the reputation she enjoys of being wonderfully beautiful and also intellectual...."
Thomery did not reply to this: he looked puzzled, annoyed....