me than most husbands are to most wives--he is everything."

Leone looked down on that fair, sweet face with loving eyes; the very
depths of her soul were touched by those simple words; she prayed God
that she might always remember them. There was infinite pathos in her
voice and in her face when she said:

"You are very happy, then, with your husband, Lady Marion?"

"Yes, I am very happy," said the young wife, simply. "My husband loves
me, I have no rivals, no jealousies, no annoyances; I may say I am
perfectly happy."

"I pray God that you may always be so!" said Leone, gently.

And with an impulse she could not resist she bent down and kissed the
sweet face.

Then Lady Chandos looked up.

"I am afraid," she said, "that our pleasant five minutes' chat is ended.
We must go back to the ballroom. I am afraid all your admirers will be
very angry with me, Madame Vanira."

"That is a matter of perfect indifference?" she replied. "I know you
better, Lady Marion, for those five minutes spent here than I should
have done during a century in ballrooms."

"And you promise that we shall always be friends," said the fair woman
who called herself Lady Chandos.

"I promise, and I will keep my word," said the beautiful singer, who had
believed herself to be his wife.

And with those words they parted.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

THE HUSBAND'S KISS.

Lady Marion never did anything by halves. It was seldom that her calm,
quiet nature was stirred, but when that happened she felt more deeply,
perhaps, than people who express their feelings with great ease and
rapidity. She was amused herself at her own great liking for Madame
Vanira; it was the second great love of her life; the first had been for
her husband, this was the next. She talked of her incessantly, until
even Lord Chandos wondered and asked how it was.

"I cannot tell," she replied; "I think I am infatuated. I am quite sure,
Lance, that if I had been a gentleman, I should have followed Madame
Vanira to the other side of the world. I think her, without exception,
the most charming woman in the world."

She raised her eyes with innocent tenderness to his face.

"Are you jealous because I love her so much?" she asked.

He shuddered as he heard the playful, innocent words, so different from
the reality.

"I should never be jealous of you, Marion," he replied, and then turned
the conversation.

Nothing less than a visit to Madame Vanira would please Lady C