XXI. HANAUD EXPLAINS




AT THE VILLA ROSE




CHAPTER I

SUMMER LIGHTNING


It was Mr. Ricardo's habit as soon as the second week of August
came round to travel to Aix-les-Bains, in Savoy, where for five or
six weeks he lived pleasantly. He pretended to take the waters in
the morning, he went for a ride in his motor-car in the afternoon,
he dined at the Cercle in the evening, and spent an hour or two
afterwards in the baccarat-rooms at the Villa des Fleurs. An
enviable, smooth life without a doubt, and it is certain that his
acquaintances envied him. At the same time, however, they laughed
at him and, alas with some justice; for he was an exaggerated
person. He was to be construed in the comparative. Everything in
his life was a trifle overdone, from the fastidious arrangement of
his neckties to the feminine nicety of his little dinner-parties.
In age Mr. Ricardo was approaching the fifties; in condition he
was a widower--a state greatly to his liking, for he avoided at
once the irksomeness of marriage and the reproaches justly