"I'm awfully sorry I could not come down to fetch you, dear," he said; "but I've been dreadfully busy all the morning--lots of worries, as you know. I've only this moment risen from my table. There are more complications between France and Austria." "Oh, I know how busy you are," she replied as she seated herself at the daintily set-out table, with its flowers, bright silver, and cut glass. Their luncheons _tete-a-tete_ were always pleasant, for on such occasions they sat at a small side-table, preferring it to the big centre-table when there were no guests. "Did you see anyone you knew?" he asked, carelessly, for often Mme. Polivin, the rather stout wife of the Minister of Commerce, went to the sands with her children. "Well, nobody particular," was her reply, with feigned unconcern. "Enid enjoyed herself immensely," she went on quickly. "She didn't bathe, so I told her to make a sand castle. She was delighted, especially when the water came in under the moat." And then, as he seated himself opposite her, old Jenner entered with the _hors d'oeuvres_. Jean was thankful that the room, shaded as it was, was in half darkness, so that her husband could not see how pale she was. Through the open windows came the scent of flowers borne upon the warm air, and the silence of the room was over everything. He began to discuss their plans for the autumn. "Trevor asks us to go a cruise in his yacht up the Adriatic in October," he said. "I had a letter from him this morning, dated from Stavanger. You remember what a good time we had with him when we went to Algiers and Tunis two years ago." "I've never been to the Adriatic," she remarked. "I went once, about nine years ago, with that financial fellow Pettigrew--the fellow who afterwards met with a fatal accident in a lift at the Grand in Paris. It was delightful. You would be interested in all the little places along the beautiful Dalmatian coast--Zara, where they make the maraschino; Sebenico, Pola, the Bay of Cattaro, and Ragusa, the old city of the Venetian Republic. Shall we accept?" "It is awfully kind of your brother-in-law," she replied. "Yes, I'd love to go--if you could get away." "I could come overland and join you at Venice or Trieste, and then we could put into Brindisi or Ancona for any urgent despatches. You see, there's no convenient rail on the Dalmatian side. Yes, I think I could manage it." "Then accept by all means. I love the sea, as you know. Where do they sail from?" "Marseilles. You will join the _Marama_ there. She will then touch at Genoa, Naples, and go through the Straits of Messina, and I'll join you in the Adriatic." "Helen is going, I suppose?" she remarked, referring to Trevor's wife. "Of course, and the two Henderson girls, and little Lady Runton. So we shall be a merry party." Jean was delighted. In the excitement of the moment she forgot the dark cloud that had fallen upon her.