"Nothing? And yet your eyes are glistening as if you were nearer to tears than to laughter. You certainly must have seen copper kettles before and a cook polishing them. It seems almost as if you envied the girl kneeling there and working hard enough for three women." The appearance of the host interrupted the conversation at this point and Lena recovered her quiet bearing and soon her cheerfulness also. Then she went upstairs to change her dress. When she returned she found that a programme proposed by the host had been unconditionally accepted by Botho: the young people were to take a sailboat as far as the next village, Nieder Loehme, which was charmingly situated on the Wendisch Spree. From this village they were to walk as far as Koenigs-Wusterhausen, visit the park and the castle, and then return in the same way. This excursion would take half a day. The manner of passing the afternoon could be arranged later. Lena was pleased with the plan and a couple of wraps were just being put in the boat, which had been hastily gotten ready, when voices and hearty laughter were heard from the garden--a sound which seemed to indicate visitors and the probability that their solitude would be disturbed. "Ah, members of the yacht and rowing club," said Botho. "The Lord be praised, we shall escape them, Lena. Let us hurry." And they both started off to reach the boat as quickly as possible. But before they could reach the pier they saw that they were already surrounded and caught. The guests' were not only Botho's comrades, but his most intimate friends, Pitt, Serge, and Balafre. All three had ladies with them. "_Ah, les beaux esprits se rencontrent_," said Balafre in a rather wild mood, which quickly changed to a more conventional manner, as he observed that he was being watched by the host and hostess from the threshold. "How fortunate we are to meet here. Allow me, Gaston, to present our ladies to you: Queen Isabeau, Fraeulein Johanna, Fraeulein Margot." Botho saw what sort of names were the order of the day, and adapting himself quickly, he replied, indicating Lena with a little gesture and introducing her: "Mademoiselle Agnes Sorel." All the three men bowed civilly, even to all appearances respectfully, while the two daughters of Thibaut d'Arc made a very slight curtsey, and Queen Isabeau, who was at least fifteen years older, offered a more friendly greeting to Agnes Sorel, who was not only a stranger to her, but apparently embarrassed.