"I wonder who that handsome, sulky-looking individual is?" she said gaily. "He fairly froze you, Ann. I imagine he thinks you did it on purpose." Ann's face burned more hotly. That was precisely the conclusion she had arrived at herself, and the idea filled her with helpless rage. "He struck me as quite an unusual combination of good looks and bad temper," pursued Lady Susan. "Evidently he doesn't appreciate being pelted with roses." A sudden gurgle of laughter broke from Ann. "It was rather a hard little bud," she said vindictively. "I hope it hurt him." Lady Susan threw a swift glance at her. "Do you know him? Have you met him before?" she asked. "He was down at the Kursaal the other night--the night Tony and I had such good luck. I dropped my bag and he picked it up for me. That's all." Ann spoke rather shortly, and for some time afterwards appeared to be completely absorbed in manoeuvring the two-seater through the streets. They did not encounter the Englishman's car again, and eventually, after making a final circuit of the town, they returned to Mon Rêve. In the evening Lady Susan complained of fatigue. "I've not quite got over that fall of mine yet," she acknowledged ruefully, when Ann suggested that perhaps she had been out driving too long in the hot sun. "Elderly ladies should refrain from tumbling about; it shakes them up too much. I should immensely like to go to bed, if you don't mind watching the Venetian fête in solitary splendour. Do you?" She emitted a sigh of satisfaction when Ann assured her that she did not. "Then I shall just disappear to bed with a novel. It will entertain me far more than gazing at a lot of illuminated boats paddling about the lake." "I think I shall take our boat out, then," said Ann. "I'd rather like to see it all at close quarters. It's all new to me, you know." Lady Susan nodded. At different times they had spent a good many enjoyable hours together, pulling about on the lake, and she had complete confidence in Ann's ability to manage a rowing-boat. "Very well. Only don't forget Tony is coming to take you to the dance at ten and tire yourself out." Ann laughed and shook her head, and when Lady Susan had departed to bed she threw a knitted coat over her evening frock and made her way out into the garden. It was a long, rambling garden, sheltered from the road by a high wall and, at its farthest end, skirting the lake itself. Here a small wooden landing-stage had been erected, and moored against it lay a light rowing-boat--the _Rêve_. With practised hands Ann untied the painter, affixed a light to the bows of the boat, dropped the sculls into the rowlocks, and rowed quietly out across the placid water.