"Well--oh, bother, there he is. And he's seen me." Jimmy followed her gaze. The dapper figure of Mr. Wesson was moving down the lawn. He had a tennis racquet in his hand. His face wore an inviting smile. Jimmy glared at him hopelessly. Mr. Wesson had vanished now behind the great clamp of laurels which stood on the lowest terrace. In another moment he would reappear round them. "Bother!" said Molly again. "Jimmy!" For gently, but with extreme firmness and dispatch, Jimmy, who ought to have known better, had seized her hand on the other side of the waist, swung her off her feet, and placed her carefully on the cushions in the bow of the canoe. Then he had jumped in himself with a force which made the boat rock, and was now paddling with the silent energy of a dangerous lunatic into the middle of the lake; while Mr. Wesson, who had by this time rounded the laurels, stood transfixed, gazing glassily after the retreating vessel. To the casual spectator, he might have seemed stricken dumb. But at the end of the first ten seconds any fear that the casual spectator might have entertained as to the permanence of the seizure would have been relieved. CHAPTER XI. "The man who lays a hand upon a woman," said Jimmy, paddling strongly, "save in the way of kindness--I'm very sorry, Molly, but you didn't seem able to make up your mind. You aren't angry, are you?" There was a brief pause, while Molly apparently debated the matter in her mind. "You wouldn't take me back even if I were angry," she said. "You have guessed it," said Jimmy approvingly. "Do you read much poetry, Molly?" "Why?" "I was only thinking how neatly some of these poets put a thing. The chap who said, 'distance lends enchantment to the view,' for instance. Take the case of Wesson. He looks quite nice when you see him at a distance like this, with a good strip of water in between." Mr. Wesson was still standing in a statuesque attitude on the bank. Molly, gazing over the side of the boat into the lake, abstained from feasting her eyes on the picturesque spectacle. "Jolly the water looks," said Jimmy. "I was just thinking it looked rather dirty." "Beastly," agreed Jimmy. The water as a topic of conversation dried up. Mr. Wesson had started now to leave the stricken field. There was a reproachful look about his back which harassed Molly's sensitive conscience. Jimmy, on the other hand--men being of coarser fibre than women, especially as to the conscience--appeared in no way distressed at the sight. "You oughtn't to have done it, Jimmy," said Molly. "I had to. There seemed to be no other way of ever getting you by yourself for five minutes at a stretch. You're always in the middle of a crowd nowadays." "But I must look after my guests." "Not a bit of it. Let 'em rip. Why should they monopolize you?" "It will be awfully unpleasant meeting Mr. Wesson after this." "It is always unpleasant meeting Wesson." "I shan't know what to say." "Don't say anything."