She avoided him. She had retired behind her tent-curtains, and reappeared only when her father's voice hailed the boat from a gondola. The count and the marquis were sitting together, and there was a spare gondola for the voyagers, so that they should not have to encounter another babel of the riva. Salutes were performed with lifted hats, nods, and bows. 'Well, my dear child, it has all been very wonderful and uncomfortable?' said the count. 'Wonderful, papa; splendid.' 'No qualms of any kind?' 'None, I assure you.' And madame?' 'Madame will confirm it, if you find a seat for her.' Rosamund Culling was received in the count's gondola, cordially thanked, and placed beside the marquis. 'I stay on board and pay these fellows,' said Roland. Renee was told by her father to follow madame. He had jumped into the spare gondola and offered a seat to Beauchamp. 'No,' cried Renee, arresting Beauchamp, 'it is I who mean to sit with papa.' Up sprang the marquis with an entreating, 'Mademoiselle!' 'M. Beauchamp will entertain you, M. le Marquis.' 'I want him here,' said the count; and Beauchamp showed that his wish was to enter the count's gondola, but Renee had recovered her aplomb, and decisively said 'No,' and Beauchamp had to yield. That would have been an opportunity of speaking to her father without a formal asking of leave. She knew it as well as Nevil Beauchamp. Renee took his hand to be assisted in the step down to her father's arms, murmuring: 'Do nothing--nothing! until you hear from me.' ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: