o
their looks, what a race we should have been! But, my dear
sister,--a question of taste only,--you should leave Doucet and
Paquin at home when you come to my bungalow."

"You men never altogether understand," she replied. "Nothing
requires a little artificial aid so much as nature. It is the
piquancy of the contrast, you see. That is why the decorations of
Watteau are the most wonderful in the world. He knew how to combine
the purely, exquisitely artificial with the entirely simple. Now to
break the news to Miss Lalonde!"

Ruth turned a smiling face towards her.

"It is to say that our fete day is at an end," she said, looking for
her stick.

"Fete days do not end at six o'clock in the afternoon," Fenella
replied. "I want you to be very kind and give us all a great deal of
pleasure. We want to make a little party--you and Mr. Chetwode, my
brother, myself and Mr. Weatherley--and dine under that cedar tree,
just as we are. We are going to call it supper. Then, afterwards,
you will have a ride back to London in the cool air. Either my
brother will take you, or we will send a car from here."

"It is a charming idea," Sabatini said. "Miss Lalonde, you will not
be unkind?"

She hesitated only for a moment. They saw her glance at her frock,
the little feminine struggle, and the woman's conquest.

"If you really mean it," she said, "why, of course, I should love
it. It is no good my pretending that if I had known I should have
been better prepared," she continued, "because it really wouldn't
have made any difference. If you don't mind--"

"Then it is settled!" Sabatini exclaimed. "My young friend Arnold is
now going to take me out upon the river. I trust myself without a
tremor to those shoulders."

Arnold rose to his feet with alacrity.

"You get into the boat-house down that path," Sabatini continued.
"There is a comfortable punt in which I think I could rest
delightfully, or, if you prefer to scull, I should be less
comfortable, but resigned."

"It shall be the punt," Arnold decided, with a glance at the river.
"Won't any one else come with us?"

Fenella shook her head.

"I am going to talk to Miss Lalonde," she said. "After we have had
an opportunity of witnessing your skill, Mr. Chetwode, we may trust
ourselves another time. Au revoir!"

They watched the punt glide down the stream, a moment or two later,
Sabatini stretched between the red cushions with a cigarette in his
mouth, Arnold handling his po