He deliberately made his voice sound uninterested and the Princess responded,
“Poor Zoia, I am so sorry for her. It is not her fault that things are as they are.”
“What do you mean?” the Duke asked again in what he hoped was an uninterested voice.
“I forgot,” the Princess said, “that I did not tell you who she was.”
“And who is she?”
“She is Pierre Vallon’s daughter.”
For a moment the Duke could not think how he had heard the name.
Then he exclaimed,
“Do you mean the Conductor?”
“Of course,” the Princess replied. “There is only one Vallon in the musical world and he now has a unique position.”
“I heard him conducting in London last year,” the Duke said, “and long ago when I was a boy in Paris. I suppose he is without exception one of the greatest Conductors in the world today and
