"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 some
one 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
every one 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. 'Oh, I beg
your pardon,' she said; 'I thought you were Morton Hamilton, the
English champion.' As a matter of fact, I do look like Hamilton, but I
know now that her object was to make me think that she had no idea as
to who I really was. She needn't have acted at all, for I certainly
had no suspicions of her, and was only too pleased to have so charming
a companion.

"The one thing that should have made me suspicious was the fact that
at every station she made some trivial excuse to get me out of the
compartment. She pretended that her maid was travelling back of us in
one of the second-class carriages, and kept saying she could not
imagine why the woman did not come to look after her, and if the maid
did not turn up at the next stop, would I be so very kind as to get