Prince Maiyo held out his hand for Penelope's programme.
"You will spare me some dances ?" he pleaded.

"I come late, but it is not my fault." She yielded the programme to him without a word.
"Those with an X,'" she said, "are free.

One has to protect oneself." He smiled as he wrote his own name, unrebuked, in four places.
"Our first dance, then, is number 10," he said.

"It is the next but one.
I shall find you here, perhaps ?" "Here or amongst the chaperons," she answered, as they passed on.
"You admire Miss Morse ?" the Duchess asked him.
"Greatly," the Prince answered.

"She is natural, she has grace, and she has what I do not find so much in this country--would you say charm ?" "It is an excellent word," the Duchess answered.