Of all the functions that ornament the calendar of the English social and sporting year, surely the Lowes week may claim to rank as one of the greatest, or at least the most enjoyable. So thought Simon Carne as he sat on the deck of Lord Tremorden’s yacht, anchored off the mouth of the Medina River, smoking his cigarette and whispering soft nothings into the shell-like ear of Lady Mabel Madderley, the lady of all others who had won the right to be considered the beauty of the past season. It was a perfect afternoon, and, as if to fill his flagon of enjoyment to the very brim, he had won the Queen’s Cup with his yacht, _The Unknown Quantity_, only half-an-hour before. Small wonder, therefore, that he was contented with his lot in life, and his good fortune of that afternoon in particular. The tiny harbor was crowded with shipping of all sorts, shapes, and sizes, including the guardship, his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Westphalia’s yacht the _Hohenzrallas_, the English Royal yachts, steam yachts, schooners, cutters, and all the various craft taking part in England’s greatest water carnival. Steam launches darted hither and thither, smartly-equipped gigs conveyed gaily-dressed parties from vessel to vessel, while, ashore the little town itself was alive with bunting, and echoed to the strains of almost continuous music. "Surely you ought to consider yourself a very happy man, Mr. Carne," said Lady Mabel Madderley with a smile, in reply to a speech of the other’s. "You won the Derby in June, and to-day you have appropriated the Queen’s Cup." "If such things constitute happiness I suppose I must be in the seventh heaven of delight," answered Carne, as he took another cigarette from his case and lit it. "All the same, I am insatiable enough to desire still greater fortune. When one has set one’s heart upon winning something, besides which the Derby and the Queen’s Cup are items scarcely worth considering, one is rather apt to feel that Fortune has still much to give." "I am afraid I do not quite grasp your meaning," she said. But there was a look in her face that told him that, if she did not understand, she could at least make a very good guess. According to the world’s reckoning, he was quite the best fish then swimming in the matrimonial pond, and some people, for the past few weeks, had even gone so far as to say that she had hooked him. It could not be denied that he had been paying her unmistakable attention of late. What answer he would have vouchsafed to her speech it is impossible to say for at that moment their host came along the deck towards them. He carried a note in his hand. "I have just received a message to say that His Imperial Majesty is going to honor us with a visit," he said, when he reached them. "If I mistake not, that is his launch coming towards us now."