.

He threw a rapid glance around. "Yes, we shall--with any luck. Come
along! I know the way. There's a little landing-stage place down by
the lake. We'll go there. There may even be a boat handy--if the gods
are kind."

The gods were kind. They skirted the terraced gardens, which were not
open to the public, and plunged down a winding walk through a shrubbery
that led somewhat sharply downwards, away from the noise and the crush
into cool green depths of woodland through which at last there shone up
at them the gleam of water.

Juliet was panting when at length her guide paused. "My darling, what a
shame!" he said. "But hang on to me! There are some steps round the
corner, and they may be slippery. We'll soon be down now, and there's not
a soul anywhere. Look! There's a fairy barque waiting for us!"

She caught sight of a white skiff, lying in the water close to the bank.
As he had predicted, the final descent was a decided scramble, but he
held her up until the mossy bank was reached; and would have held her
longer, but with a little breathless laugh she released herself.

"My shoes are ruined," she remarked.

As they were of light grey suede, and the precipitous path they had
travelled was a mixture of clay and limestone the ruin was palpable and
very thorough. Dick surveyed them with compunction.

"I say, they're wet through! You must take them off at once. Get into
the boat!"

"No, no!" She laughed again with more assurance. "I am not going to take
them off. We couldn't dry them if I did, and I should never get them on
again. Do you think we ought to get into the boat? Suppose the owner
came along?"

"The owner? Lord Saltash, do you mean?" He scoffed at the idea. "Do you
really imagine he would come within a hundred leagues of the place on
such a day as this. No, he is probably many salt miles away in that
ocean-going yacht of his. Lucky dog!"

"Oh, do you envy him?" she said.

He gave her a shrewd glance. "Not in the least. He is welcome to his
yacht--and his Lady Jo--and all that is his."

"Dick!" She made a swift gesture of repudiation. "Please don't repeat
that--scandal--again!"

He raised his brows with a faintly ironical smile. "Are you still giving
her the benefit of the doubt?" he said. "I imagine no one else does."

The colour went out of her face. She stood quite motionless, looking
not at him but at a whirl of dancing gnats on the gold-flecked water
beyond him.

"She went to Paris," s