'
"I thanked her, and took one from her case, and I found it so much
better than my own that I continued to smoke her cigarettes
throughout the rest of the journey. I must say that we got on very
well. I judged from the coronet on her cigarette-case, and from her
manner, which was quite as well bred as that of any woman I ever met,
that she was someone of importance, and though she seemed almost too
good-looking to be respectable, I determined that she was some grande
dame who was so assured of her position that she could afford to be
unconventional. At first she read her novel, and then she made some
comment on the scenery, and finally we began to discuss the current
politics of the Continent. She talked of all the cities in Europe,
and seemed to know everyone worth knowing. But she volunteered
nothing about herself except that she frequently made use of the
expression, 'When my husband was stationed at Vienna,' or 'When my
husband was promoted to Rome.' Once she said to me, 'I have often
seen you at Monte Carlo. I saw you when you won the pigeon-
championship.' I told her that I was not a pigeon-shot, and she gave
a little start of surprise.
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